ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN INDIA

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION
IN INDIA

The Unfinished Business

l P NAIK

ASIA PUBLISHING HOUSE

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN INDIA

Dadabhai Naoroji Memorial Lectures, 1963

Elementary Education in India

The Unfinished Business

J. P. NAIK

ASIA PUBLISHING HOUSE

BOMBAY - CALCUTTA - NEW DELHI - MADRAS
BANGALORE - LUCKNOW - LONDON - NEW YORK

PREFATORY NOTE

Mr. J. P. Naik, former Adviser (Primary Education) in the
Union Ministry of Education and now Member-Secretary,
Education Commission, Government of India, was awarded the
Dadabhai Naoroji Memorial Prize for the year 1963 in the
subject of Education. In August 1964, he delivered three
lectures on Elementary Education in India— The Unfinished
Business which are now published for the information of the
general reader.

Bombay

25 December 1965

COPYRIGHT © DADABHAI NAOROJI MEMORIAL PRIZE FUND, 1966

PRINTED IN INDIA

AT THE CAXTON PRESS PRIVATE LIMITED, NEW DELHI, AND PUBLISHED BY
P. S. JAYASINGHE, ASIA PUBLISHING HOUSE, BOMBAY

Contents

Lectures

1 . Strategy and Priority 1

2. Quality and Quantity 22

3. Administration and Finance 44

Appendices

1 * Village Panchayats jn Primary Education 63

2. A Perspective Plan for the Development

of Elementary Education in India 74

3. Financing of Elementary Education in India 117

Index 1^1

LECTURE I*

Strategy and Priority

The provision of universal elementary education has been a
cherished goal of the Indian people for more than eighty years.
The demand for this service, obviously stimulated by the passing
of Elementary Education Acts in England between 1870 and 1880,
was first put forward by a few enlightened Indians before the Indian
Education Commission of 1882. The Grand Old Man of India,
Dadabhai Naoroji, was one of them. He contrasted the “British”
policy towards elementary education in England (where the first
Parliamentary grant of £ 20,000 for education was sanctioned in
1833, but further expansion was so rapid that, by 1882, compul-
sory education laws had already been passed, the total enrolment
had increased to 4.857 million or one in seven of the population
and the total expenditure on elementary education increased to
4s 3d per head of population) with the “un-British” policy in India
(where the first Government grant for education was sanctioned
twenty years earlier in 1813 but where further expansion was so
slow that, by 1882, the total enrolment in elementary schools had
increased only to 1.633 million or one in 114 of the population,
and the total expenditure on education had increased only to 8.71
paise or less than a penny per head of the population). He des-
cribed it as a “sad, sad tale” which allowed “nearly 25 million
children to grow up in ignorance.” But, at this early period, the
Commission would not even entertain the concept of universal and
compulsory education and all his eloquent pleading was in vain.

The thread was again taken up by another man from Bombay — the
late Gopal Krishna Gokhale — who moved, first, a Resolution
(1910) and then a Bill (1911) in the Central Legislature for the
permissive and gradual introduction of compulsory education
through the local bodies. But the Resolution had to be withdrawn

*1 would like to clarify that the views expressed in these lectures are personal
and that they do not represent either those of the Ministry of Education or
the Education Co mmiss ion.

1 ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN INDIA

and the Bill was defeated because the Government of the day felt
that the concept of compulsory education was ruled out by “admi-
nistrative and financial considerations of decisive weight.” But In-
dians insisted on thinking differently. Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwar
of Baroda, who has been rightly described as a prince among the
educators and an educator among the princes, boldly introduced
the experiment in the Amraeli Mahal of his State in 1893 and in
all its areas in 1906; and all the legislatures of the British Indian
provinces passed compulsory education laws between 1918 and
1930. The concept of compulsory elementary education thus came
to be accepted in theory and was incorporated- in the laws of the
land, especially after the transfer of education to Indian control
in 1921.

The acceptance of a programme in principle by enacting the
necessary legislation is one thing and its practical implementation
quite another, especially in a country like ours where the distance
^between “theory” and “practice” has always been very wide:
The provision of universal elementary education is the costliest of
all social services and its implementation was held up in India by
two main difficulties: the first was the large birth-rate and the rapid
growth of population which continually increased the size of the
problem and made it more difficult; and the second was the extreme
poverty of the people and the country which, on the one hand,
made it almost impossible for the Government to raise the necessary
financial resources to support the programme and, on the other,
prevented the bulk of the children, who had to assist their poor
families by working at home or outside, from attending the schools
on a whole-time basis. The first of these two problems — inordinate
population growth— has not yet been tackled in earnest and it is
only now that family planning and population control have begun
to receive serious attention. But an attempt to resolve the second
difficulty the poverty of the State and the people — was made by
two great men. The first was the late R.V. Parulekar who
advocated the adoption of the double-shift system, partly to reduce
the cost of educating a child, and partly to enable the poor children
to work at home and to receive education simultaneously. The
second was the idea of basic education put forward by Mahatma
Gandhi who introduced the concept of socially productive, useful
work into education and felt that elementary education, conducted

STRATEGY AND PRIORITY 3

on “basic” lines, should be self-supporting — a characteristic of the
experiment which he described as an “acid test” of its success. But
neither of these had received a fair trial by 1939 when the Second
World War broke out and put all developmental programmes in
cold storage for some time. ; \n 1944, the Central Advisory Board
of Education prepared a plan — known popularly as the Sargent
Plan after Sir John Sargent who was then the Education Commis-
sioner with the Government of India— which accepted the concept
that the National System of Education in India must include a
provision for the compulsory schooling of eight years for all child-
ren (age-group 6-13). As it was not worried on the financial
score— it was planning for a period of 40 years during which time
it expected the Indian economy to be buoyant— it did not have to
accept Parulekar’s device of the double-shift which was purely
financial in origin and admittedly diluted quality to some extent.
It, however, accepted Gandhi’s idea of basic education— both for
its qualitative aspects and for its inculcation of the dignity of labour
— but without its acid test of self-sufficiency. All that it expected
from the teaching of craft was that its produce should pay for the
cost of raw materials. Consequently, its financial estimates rose
very high — it needed Rs. 200 crores a year for elementary education
or about 66 per cent of the total educational expenditure of Rs. 300
crores, or Rs* 7 per head of population (then estimated at 29 crores)
at the 1939 prices. The Kher Committee which examined the
Sargent Plan from the “national” point of view, accepted the pro-
gramme of universal, compulsory and free basic education as pro-
posed in the Plan itself but reduced the time factor from 40 (1944-84)
to 16 years (1944-60). This view was accepted by the framers of the
Constitution in 1950 and that is why Article 45 of the Constitution
directs that the State shall endeavour to provide free and com-
pulsory education for all children till they reach the age of 14 years
within ten years of the date of adoption of the Constitution on the
26th of January 1950.*

*It will be noticed that the constitutional provision mentions only “free
and compulsory” education and makes no reference to the “type” of education
to be provided— T basic or non-basic. Similarly, it mentions only the upper age-
nmit °f compulsory education (14 years) and not its beginning nor the duration

me compulsory school period. This was done purposely to avoid contro-
ersies regarding “basic” education or the age of admission to elementary schools
^opinions varied from age 5 to age 7) or making pre-primary education (age 3
10 age 6) nlso compulsory. v *

4

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN INDIA

STRATEGY AND PRIORITY

II

Elementary education in the post-Independence period thus began
with a “good” resolution and it appears to me that, in our way of
life, the “making” of good resolutions is far more important than
“implementing” them!) It is not entirely a matter for surprise,
therefore, that (>ve have not been able to implement this constitu-
tional directive and to bring all children in the age-group 6-14
to schools by I960) The First Five Year Plan (1950-55), conceived
soon after the adoption of the Constitution, did give a very high
priority to elementary education; but the failure became evident as
early as 1956 when the Second Five Year Plan was adopted, which
showed that by 1960 we would only enrol about 61 per cent of
the children in the age-group 6-10 and only about 23 per cent of the
children in the age-group 11-13. The question was, therefore,
examined in great detail by the education panel of the Planning
Commission which met at Poona in 1958. It recommended that
the old idea of treating education for the age-group 6-14 as an integ-
rated whole might be given up and we might divide this period of
eight years of elementary education into two— primary educa-
tion of five years (age-group $-10) and middle school education of
three years (age-group 11-13). (It further recommended that
universal and compulsory education at the primary stage should
be provided by the end of the Third Plan (1965-66) and similar
education at the middle school stage at the end of the Fifth Plan
(1975-76^ This amendment, in itself, implied a considerable water-
ing down of the original targets. But, unfortunately, we will not
be able to implement even this revised programme, (in so far
as the age-group 6-10 is concerned, universal education will have
been provided by the end of the Third Plan (1965-66) only in the
States of Kerala and Madras and in the Union Territory of Delhi;
the seven advanced States (Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Gujarat^
Maharashtra, Mysore, Punjab and West Bengal) will reach the goal
at the end of the Fourth Plan (1970-71); and the six backward States
(Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan
and Uttar Pradesh) will reach it only by the end of the Fifth Plan
(1975-76)) \In so far as the age-group 11-13 is concerned, Madras,
Kerala and Delhi may provide universal and compulsory education
by 1975-76; the seven advanced States may do so by 1980-81; and

"'5,3

\

the six backward States by i 98 5-86 at the earliest! At one time we
all felt that the proposal of the Sargent Plan to provide free and
compulsory education for the age-group (6-13) by 1984 was “anti-
national” and “fantastically slow.” Today, we have come to a
stage when the implementation of even the Sargent Plan will be
regarded as a “progressive, bold and ambitious target!” There is
also one more point that I must mention. To me, the tragedy
is not so much the failure to implement the directive of Article 45
of the Constitution by 1960. It is a greater tragedy that even today
we have no official programme to tell us when, if at all, we shall
reach this goal — there are some States who want to do it by the
Ninth Plan (1989-90) and some even by the Eleventh Plan (1995-

2000 ).

The principal question before us, therefore, is this: Why is it
that the progress of elementary education is so slow and why
is it that we are unable to implement the only directive principle
of the State policy in education? Obviously, it is on the correct-
ness or otherwise of our answer to this question — on our correct
diagnosis of our failure to reach this national goal — that the ulti-
mate solution of the problem will depend. Fortunately, the subject
has been often discussed — too often as a matter of fact— and the
general causes which impede the progress of elementary education
have been diagnosed, more or less accurately. They include: our
large birth-rate and consequent explosion of population; the in-
ability of the Government to raise the financial resources needed to
support this massive programme; the apathy of the illiterate masses
to education; the traditional resistance to the education of girls;
the existence of backward groups such as scheduled castes and
tribes or the nomads; the poverty of the parents which compels
them to use the labour of children at home or outside; small and

scattered habitations — we have more than 250,000 habitations of
less than 100 people each; large forest and inaccessible areas; and
the absence of a suitable machinery to enforce compulsory attend-
ance and the immense cost that would be involved in creating it)
(Taken together, these physical, social, cultural, economic and
a ministrative handicaps make the problem of providing universal
C e ^ uca ^ on extremely difficult and costly, if not impossible)

While this general aspect of the problem is widely known, there
ls an °ther and more important aspect of which very little is known

6

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN INDIA

STRATEGY AND PRIORITY

7

and on which I would like to dwell in some detail. I refer here
to the six backward States which are lagging so painfully behind —
the States of Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa,
Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. They form the big belt of northern
India from west to east— the heart of Aryavarta, if you like. Their
total population (1961) is about 45 per cent of the Indian Union,
but at the end of the Second Plan (1960-61) contained about 60 per
cent of the total non-attending children in the age-group 6-10 in
the country as a whole. Unsatisfactory as this situation is, it will
be worse still at the end of the Third Plan (1965-66) because, during
the Third Plan itself, the advanced States have made much greater
progress than the backward States. According to the present indi-
cations, these backward States will not be able to achieve their
original targets of enrolment at the primary stage (classes I-V) in the
Third Five Year Plan; and even if they did, the total number of
non-attending children in the age-group 6-10 in these six States will,
in 1965-66, be 67.5 per cent of the total non-attending children in
the country as a whole as against about 60.1 per cent in 1960-61.
Uttar Pradesh (29 per cent) and Bihar (13 per cent) alone would
have about 42 per cent of the non-attending children in the Indian
Union! At the end of the Fourth Plan (1970-71), most of the
advanced States would have provided compulsory education in the
age-group 6-10 and more than 98 per cent of the non-attending
children in this age-group in the country as a whole would be in
these six States only! In the age-group 11-13, the position is even
worse — these States are not even able to keep pace with the growth
of the population. For instance, the total population of children
in the age-group 11-13 in these six States will rise, during the Third
Plhn, by 2.84 million— from 12.07 million in 1961 to 14.91 million
in 1966. But in the same period, the additional enrolment in classes
VI- VIII in all the six States would be only 1.37 million. That
is to say, the number of non-attending children in the age-group
11-13 in all these States will increase from 10.02 million in 1961 to
11.68 million in 1966.* The position of the enrolment of girls in
this age-group, particularly in rural areas, is almost hopeless. In
Uttar Pradesh, for instance, the enrolment of girls in the age-group
11-13 in the rural areas is about one per cent at present and may

•For details of statistics referred to here, please refer to Table Nos. I and II
(PP. 20-1).

rise to about two at the end of the Third Plan! It is, therefore,
evident that, (in so far as expansion of elementary education is con-
cerned, the problem is one of the six backward States only. I have
no anxiety at all about Kerala, Madras or Delhi; they will roll on
to universal education in the age-group 6-13 by 1975-76. I also
have no particular anxiety about the seven advanced States. The
public awakening in these areas is terrific; the Governments also
have become conscious of their responsibilities in this regard and,
with a little financial assistance from the Centre, they too will reach
the goal a little later, by 1980-81. But in so far as the six backward
States are concerned, the problem is extremely acute and difficult,
and we may assume it as an axiom that the future of elementary
education in India is the future of elementary education in these
six States.

Why is it that these six States are so backward in elementary
education ? There are a number of physical, social, cultural,
historical and economic factors. Rajasthan has vast desert areas
where the population lives in small and scattered hamlets — a situa-
tion which is basically repeated, although in a different context,
in the hill areas of Uttar Pradesh, Orissa, Jammu and Kashmir,
and Madhya Pradesh. The traditional resistances to the education
of girls are comparatively strong in these States and it is more
difficult to obtain women teachers. They also have large popula-
tions of the backward classes, the scheduled tribes being particularly
concentrated in Bihar, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.
By and large, these areas are comparatively less industrialised and
less urbanised and generally poorer. Bihar is the poorest State in
India. But, perhaps, the most important cause is historical — a
century of neglect. In 1950-51, all these States started with a severe
handicap — the enrolment in classes I-V in them varied from 10 to
36 per cent of the age-group 6-10 and that in classes VI-VIII from
5 to 12 per cent of the age-group 11-13. In spite of all their efforts
in the first three Plans— and these have by no means been
inconsiderable — they have not yet been able to overcome this
handicap. In 1950-51, they were the six least advanced States
in elementary education and they will again be so at the end
of the Third Plan in 1965-66, although the gap between them
and the advanced States has been narrowed down to
some extent.

8

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN INDIA

III

The simple problem which now faces the country is, therefore
one of approach. If the present approach to the problem is to
continue, there is no reason to expect results much different from
those that we have obtained in the last three Plans and we shall

ave to reconcile ourselves to the position that the constitutional
directive may be realised somewhere between a.d. 1985 and 2000!
On the other hand, if we are convinced that we cannot afford to wait

so long to put across this vital programme, we shall have to review

the entire situation de novo , and change our very approach to the
problem. I strongly hold the view that what is needed is a change
of approach, the adoption of a new strategy, unorthodox but
effective, and it is this new strategy that I would like to elaborate
lissome detail.

The first element in the new strategy is that the programmes
ot elementary education should be pursued side by side with those
of mass education with special reference to .liquidation of adult
illiteracy, the development of scientific attitudes in all walks of life
and the popularisation of a programme of family planning. We
have somehow failed to see the fact that a crash programme of
elementary education (and it is precisely this which the Constitution
visualised) cannot be put across in an overwhelmingly illiterate so-
ciety.) For instance, so many of the evils of our system of elementary
education arise from one single factor, the illiteracy of the parents,
e.g. their general apathy to education, resistance to sending girls to
schools, lack of interest in the school progress of their children
which, in its turn, leads to such deficiencies as absenteeism, stagnation
and wastage, etc. It would, therefore, be a great asset to the pro-
gramme of universal education for all children to combine it with
that of liquidation of adult illiteracy. But this is just what we have
not done. We do not realise that education works under a “law
of expanding demand,’* that is to say, each educated parent tries
to provide better and longer education to his children than what he
received himself. In all advanced countries, therefore, compulsory
education laws remain only on paper because the very education of
parents ensures the attendance of children in schools. Unfor-
tunately, we are working in a vicious circle at present. The masses
are illiterate and hence apathetic to education. Their children.

STRATEGY AND PRIORITY

9

therefore, do not attend schools and this, in its turn, swells the ranks
of adult illiterates in the next generation. One way to break this
vicious circle is to organise mass campaigns to hquidate adult illi-
teracy which will immediately ensure the .success of this programme -
of universal elementary education. I would advocate this pro-
gramme even on financial grounds because the cost of liquidating
adult illiteracy would be less in comparison to the vast sums that
we now lose, year after year, through wastage and stagnation at

the elementary stage. , , . ,

This strategy— the liquidation of adult illiteracy— would take
care of one aspect of the problem, i.e. quick enrolment of all children
into schools, better attendance and longer retention. But this is
not enough. The programme of adult education which I have in
view will go much beyond literacy and will also include extension
education whose objectives would be twofold: (1) to educate and
motivate the adults to adopt family planning as a significant step
for their own happiness and for national prosperity; and (2) to help
them to build scientific attitudes in all walks of life. It is obvious
that the growth of our national economy will depend very largely
on these two crucial programmes. The first programme of fami y
planning will reduce the load on the educational system very consi-
derably. At the present birth-rate, we shall have to provide for an
enrolment of about 20 per cent of the total population (which is a
very large population at that) if universal education is to be intro-
duced in the age-group 6-13. If the birth-rate can be halved, the
total size of the population would be much smaller and we shal
have to provide for only about 12 per cent of this reduced population
in elementary schools: In fact, it is possible to show statistically
that, if our birth-rate could have been halved, the actual enrolment
of children that we had in our elementary schools in 1960-61 would
have enabled us to fulfil the directive of the Constitution. The
second programme, the building up of scientific attitudes, is essential
for family planning itself and also for modernisation of agriculture
and the development of industries. This will help us to raise the
national dividend and thus provide the financial foundation on which
alone a proiramme of universal and compulsory elementary educa-
tion can be securely built.

The organisation of mass campaigns of adult education with the
objectives of liquidating adult illiteracy, popularising family plan-

10

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN INDIA

mag and building up of scientific attitudes is thus the first plank in

the new strategy to be adopted. The second is provided by the two
proposals of R.V Parulekar which we have negiected so far To
our own cost. The first of these is the adoption of the system of
part-time education for those children who are required to work in
or for, their families. Such a programme would obviously take care
of two acute problems which we have to face at present: (1) inability
° * r Proportion of children in the age-group 9-14 to attend
schools on a whole-time basis on account of poverty, and (2) the
large wastage that now occurs, because the moment a child grows
enough to earn, he has to be withdrawn from schools which either
give whole-time education or none at all. At present, we have
only a system of full-time schools where we expect the children to
attend for about six hours a day, not any six hours or even the
six hours that suit children best, but the six hours we choose on some
ad hoc basis. This leads to two evils: many children who have
to do some work at home do not come to the school at all- others
come to school at early ages when they are more a nuisance’ than a
help at home, but are withdrawn as soon as they become old enough
to assist, say, about 9 or 10 years of age, and this leads to the evil
of wastage A system of part-time instruction would help all such
? But we are to ° sophisticated to accept it. Consequently,
better becomes the enemy of the “good” and the children of poor
parents receive no education at all. We must remember that a
system of part-time education has been adopted by every developing
country which is eager to provide universal education. In China
for instance, 26 million children out of 86 million, who attend
schools, do so on a part-time basis. I concede that ultimately we
should provide full-time education for all children. But that day
is rather distant and m the present conditions of unparalleled poverty
we should take a realistic view of the situation and adopt a carefully
designed system of part-time schools which would enable needy
children to receive education even when they are working in, or for
their families. It would also reduce substantially the large wastage
that now occurs because researches have shown that about 65 per
cent ot it is due to economic causes alone.

The second part of Parulekar’s proposals is to adopt a larger
pupil-teacher ratio by adoption of larger class-sizes or the double-
shift system. This will have two advantages: it will reduce the cost

STRATEGY AND PRIORITY

11

per pupil and make the -programme financially more feasible, and will
also enable us to give a better remuneration to the teachers. The
development of universal education for children generally takes
place in two stages. In the first stage, the number of children to be
enrolled is very large and the resources available are limited. In the
second stage, the additional enrolments become smaller because most
of the children are already at school and the resources available
increase because of an improvement in the economic situation.
The best strategy in developing a programme of universal education,
therefore, is to deliberately adopt a larger pupil-teacher ratio in the
first stage till full enrolment is reached and then gradually to reduce
it as more funds become available. We are unwilling to adopt this
strategy and insist on small pupil-teacher ratios right from the start.
The result is that costs go up, enrolments get slow and teachers

remain low paid. , . .

We cannot be too grateful to the late R.V. Parulekar for work-
ing out the details of this strategy.* But we have not taken his
wise counsel which alone would have made this problem capable of
an early solution; and the tragedy of the present situation is that a
problem which is already very difficult is made almost impossible
of solution by the adoption of techniques and methods of teaching
which can only suit a more advanced stage of economic develop-
ment. ' ■

There is a third element in the new approach that I am advocating,
viz. that in the next ten years, we should emphasize the education of
children in the age-group 9-13 as much as that of those in the age-
group 6-10. In the Patel Memorial Lectures, Dr. Zakir Husain
has pointed out that, if we had inadequate funds, much better results
would be obtained by educating the grown-up children, say, in
the age-group 9-13, than those in the age-group 6-10. In the first
place, the numbers involved in the older age-groups are smaller.
Secondly, the results are better and quicker and the wastage is much
less because the children are older. For instance, a child in the 11-13
age-group can be taught in a part-time school in one or two years
(at a cost of about Rs. 20 per child per year) what a child in the age-
group 6-10 takes four or five years to learn on a whole-time basis
(at a cost of about Rs. 30 per child per year). It would, therefore,

*R.V. Parulekar: Literacy in India, Macmillan & Co., Bombay, 1939.

12

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN INDIA

he worth while to consider the possibility of compelling every
chdd m the age-group 11-13 (or 9-13) who cannot attend schools on

IZnt uT ih **’ t0 a ? nd the “ at least 0a a basis, for

about li to 2 hours per day and for about three days in a weefttTo
begin with, these part-time schools would be of three tvoes •
wii. be attended by children who have CtoeSe

Sord to d age ' Sr °^ 6 : W ’ Wh ° WiSh ‘° Study further but “nnot
dfd hv fi, S ° whole -time basis; (2) some others will be atten-
ded by those children who went to school in the age-group 6-10
did not complete the course, but are also not quite beginners- and
(3) still others will be attended by those novices who neler we’nt ^

wMe but a g e ‘g rou P 6-10 or by those who went to school for a
*“ b “‘ fgain lapsed into illiteracy.' These schools can be con-
. y * existing teachers of elementary schools, in the existing

buildings and with existing equipment, if an allowance is paid to
incidentally, would be a welcome addition to their
salaries in these days of rising prices. The experiment should begin
m a btg way in the Fourth Plan and by the end of the Fifth Plan
our ann should be to enrol all children in the age-group 11-13
who do not already attend schools on a whole-time bfsis ?„ such
part-time instruction. No insuperable financial hurdles need arise
because this can be done at about half the cost needed for full-time
education. By then, all children of the age-group 6-10 would also

^ni be nit r0U8ht M t0 SCh ° 0lS eve “ in the backward States so that
will still be possible to fulfil the constitutional directive by 1975-

of 22 ! ate r’ h l 19 , 80 ' 8L AS time Passes > the tbbd and second
of these types ofschools will disappear gradually as education in

the age-group 6-10 becomes universal and compulsory. But the

first type of part-time schools that are meant for children in the age-

Soun C ° mp,eted the Primary scb00 > the

group 6-10 (who desire to study further, but cannot attend schools

z: t Tr me ba , sis) win have to c ° ntinue f ° r a fairf y ^ng

considerably 8 ° f the people -Proves

IV

2 : n , eW f St ? te ?i r 11 be effective onI y If It is backed up with
adequate funds which can be obtained if a higher priority is accorded

STRATEGY AND PRIORITY

13

to elementary education in the next three Plans than that in the first
three. At present, we accord a very low priority to elementary
education; and, in my opinion, this hinders our progress
considerably. The speeches that we make in favour of elementary
education are so good, so frequent and come from so many publi-
cations that I will first have to establish that we do not give adequate
priority to elementary education. In the British days, our most
frequent criticism was that our educational system was like an in-
verted pyramid, that too little was spent on elementary education
(in 1947, the total direct expenditure on elementary education was
about 40 per cent of total educational expenditure), and that elemen-
tary education should receive at least 50 per cent of the total educa-
tional expenditure. We all fondly hoped that the earlier policies
would be abandoned in the post-Independence period, especially
when the programme of universal education for children was singled
out for inclusion in the Constitution itself. But the facts are
just the opposite. The Government of India appointed commis-
sions for university and secondary education but not for elementary
education; the rate of expansion of secondary and university educa-
tion is now much faster than that of elementary education so that the
educational system has become even more inverted than what it was
in 1947; and the total direct expenditure on elementary education
is now 35 per cent of the total educational expenditure as against
40 per cent in 1947. It is no wonder that the constitutional directive
is not fulfilled. It would have been nothing short of a miracle if we
Could have fulfilled it with the adoption of these policies.

Why is it that we do not give adequate priority to programmes of
elementary education in the post-Independence period — a priority
which is implicit in all our talk of the pre-Independence days and in
the Constitution itself?

Briefly, the argument is that elementary education is conducive
only to social justice, and not to economic growth which is the
topmost priority of the day. I, unfortunately, belong to the old-
fashioned school which regards social justice as of greater impor-
tance than economic growth. To me, therefore, the priority of
elementary education is implicit even in this argument which seeks
to deny it. But I will not press that issue. I will also not argue
the historical issue that we must be consistent with all our pre-
Independence promises, nor the legalistic point that loyalty to the ^

14

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN INDIA

ConstitutKm demands the highest priority to this programme. I will
admit, for the sake of argument, that economic growth is the highest

to anv°ednL r f nt i “ d that the priority t0 be accorded

to any educational programme will be directly proportional to
the c° nt „ but wh i ch it makes to economjc y P wt P c ^ to

wholly subscr.be to this thesis because there are educational pro-
grammes which need priority on grounds other than economic, and
because man does not live by bread alone. Without pressing the

STh" ’ h Tr r ’ 6Ven °“ the lin,ited basis ofs ™P ,e economic
g owth, I still claim that programmes of mass education— a com-

fomrn, pr . 0gramme ° f adult education which will include literacy,

universal an " mg and tbe buildm S U P of scientific attitudes, and
universal education of children taken together— have an over-

research n ° nty ’ t0 tha * of technicaI education and scientific

Let me elaborate the point a little further. In my opinion, there
re wo very important conditions for economic growth The
first is some sort of population control; and the second is the moder-

firsf I L°1 th i tradltIOnal sociaI order ' Ta ^ng population control
rst, I feel that a programme of family planning, which is essentially

a programme of providing the needed education and motivation

can never be put across unless it is built on the solid foundations

of mass education. The final result in population control depends

not on the decisions taken in Delhi or in State capitals, not even

on the financial provisions made in the five-year plans, but on

wha every adult thinks, feels and does about this issueY It

vo ves the informed and willing participation of each and every

adult (man and woman) who must be made aware, first of the

tremendous issues that depend, both for himself and for his country

“f ° fch ' ldren that he may choose to have, and, second’

of ht ch'M fiC fa ? tha , 1 “ 18 h£ Wh ° and must decide the "umber
of his children and not leave it to fate or God or the sins and merits

of previous births. Simultaneously, he must also have the wM

the knL C T mge ,i° ! ake 3 dght dedsi ° n Suited to his condition and
the know-how and the perseverance to implement it, once it is taken

These conditions, which alone can ensure the success of a programme

of population control, can only follow a programme of uSvlrsal

fhi* SS edacatlon with which the programme of universal education
for children is integrally related. JUOn

STRATEGY AND PRIORITY

15

The second condition of economic growth — modernisation
of the traditional social order— is even more fundamental. This
primarily implies, not a modernisation of externals such as the intro-
duction of jet planes, television sets, steel plants or hydel dams,
but a modernisation of mind and character. Moreover, it has to
be a modernisation, not of a few individuals or even classes, but a
modernisation of the society as a whole. In other words, every
man and woman has to develop a passionate zeal, for this country
and all that it stands for, i.e. democracy, secularism, tolerance,
social and economic justice, and equality of educational and employ-
ment opportunity for all. He must learn to consider this world
and this life significant enough to deserve his zealous attempt to
reform it. He must also develop a scientific outlook on life and
cultivate the essential productive skills and qualities of cooperation
and hard work. He must learn to restrain his consumption in order
that the capital needed for reconstruction may come into being.
The modernisation of Indian society, from which its economic
growth will follow as a corollary, can, therefore, be achieved only if
we can create an organisation which would build .up these essential
values, attitudes and know-how in every citizen. This again can
only be done in a programme of mass education from which the
programme of universal elementary education is inseparable.

Why is it, then, that mass education continues to be neglected
in the post-Independence period? To me, the main socio-psycho-
logical explanation of the phenomenon lies in the increasing dis-
tance between the masses and the intelligentsia. The intellectuals
have, no doubt, a very important role to play in the modernisation
of social order and in securing economic growth. But they will
not be able to deliver the goods, unless they are also able to take the
masses with them. It is true that India has an ancient and strong
intellectual tradition; but unfortunately it has been too self-centered
and has lacked a strong communion with the people at large. In
the pre-British days, this was due mainly to the fact that the intellec-
tuals belonged to a small caste. During the last 150 years, a new
intellectual class has arisen which includes people from almost
every stratum of society. Towards the end of the nineteenth century,
this new class launched a struggle for political power on the ground
that it represented the masses of India; and as time passed and
the struggle against British imperialism grew in intensity, its ties

16

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN INDIA

STRATEGY AND PRIORITY

17

with the masses became closer and charged with emotion. With the
disappearance of the British power, however, these bonds have
become weak again and the intelligentsia seems more and more to live
and work for itself and become an exploiting rather than a service
group. In my opinion, this is the most dangerous trend in the present
situation. The British Government never accepted responsibility
for educating the masses. All that it tried to do was to create
“a class of educated Indians” and to leave it to this class to educate
their brethren. In a way, they accomplished their task and left..
It is now the sole responsibility of the educated classes in India to
provide education to the masses and to improve their living condi-
tions. It is they who are now on trial. Will they regard themselves
as the servants of the people and strive their utmost for their educa-
tion and betterment, or will they strive to utilise the available
resources, to the extent possible, for programmes which entrench
their privileged position still further, is the question which is to be
answered.

To my mind, there is no doubt about the choice. Gandhi
said that he would like “to wipe every tear from every eye.” The
intelligentsia of today, which has inherited and enjoys the fruits of
the sacrifices of this great Father of the Nation, has a ddty to him
and to itself to make this basic role of the Mahatma — to wipe every
tear from every eye — as its mission in life and to hold the unhappy
masses closest to its heart. This alone can enthuse the masses to
hard work and to sacrifices without which the economic growth of
the country cannot be brought about; men are at their best when
they get, not only knowledge, but love as well. I may also add that
it is only through this loving, well-informed and constant devotion
to the well-being of the masses that the intelligentsia can save even
itself, because its own future is inextricably linked with that of the
masses.

It is my thesis that the low priority accorded to elementary educa-
tion in the post-Independence period is merely a symptom of a
dangerous trend that seems to be growing — the isolation of the
intelligentsia from the masses. That is the stark, naked truth;
and since it is too hideous to be faced, we try to cover it up under a
cloak of learned arguments as to why mass education or elementary
education cannot be given priority in a programme essentially orien-
ted to economic growth. It is my contention that this policy will

impede even economic growth and ultimately lead to all round
ruination. I, therefore, hold that programmes of mass education,
as defined above, have to be given the highest priority and the best
possible allocation from the resources available, not only from the
point of view of humanity and social justice, but also for quicker
economic growth and in the enlightened self-interest of the intelli-
gentsia itself.

I think that we have a lesson to learn from the communist count-
ries in this regard. The dogma that economic factors are primary
to all development is essentially a Marxist doctrine. Curiously
the communist countries have observed it more in the breach than
in the fulfilment, at least in so far as the educational development
is concerned. They have all placed the highest emphasis on chang-
ing man, and on the development of mass education programmes.
In other words, they have acted on the supposition that an “educa-
tional” take-off precedes the “economic” take-off. On the other
hand, the so-called free world which vehemently denounces the
Marxist doctrine of the primary role of the economic factors,
actually acts in exactly the opposite way inasmuch as it places
greater emphasis on dams, roads, aeroplanes, factories and the like,
and gives a low priority to education as a whole and particularly
to programmes of mass education. For instance, a comparison
between Indian and Chinese policies in this sector affords an inter-
esting contrast. The communists came to power in China in 1949
and, curiously enough, this is about the time we took the decision
to enforce compulsory education in a period of ten years. It is
seen therefrom that, in 1949-50, the position of adult literacy or
elementary education was more or less the same in the two count-
ries. But the latest accounts of Chinese education show the tremen-
dous progress they have made in mass education. Large literacy
campaigns have been organised; and in spite of the difficulties of
the Chinese script — one has to learn about 5,000 symbols to be
able to read and understand Chinese literature intelligently —
millions of persons pass literacy tests every year and it is now claim-
ed that the percentage of literacy has risen to 70 or that, barring
those people who are too old to learn, almost every person has be-
come literate. In India, the percentage of literacy is still 24 and we
have done little to liquidate adult illiteracy. In elementary educa-
tion, China has already been able to enrol 92 per cent of children

18

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN INDIA

STRATEGY AND PRIORITY

19

in the corresponding age-group as against 61 per cent in India. I
believe that the communist policies with regard to mass education
do have a lesson for all the democracies, which can be ignored only
at their peril.

It has been often said that the Government does not have the
financial resources to introduce universal elementary education. I am
afraid that this is not correct and the truth probably is what I have
stated earlier, that we are not prepared to give adequate priority to
elementary education. Let me illustrate this point. At the end
of the Third Plan, we would have about 60 million children in ele-
mentary schools at a recurring cost of Rs. 2,100 million or Rs. 35
per child per year. At the end of the Fourth Plan, the total popula-
tion in the age-group 6-13 would be about 110 million, and assum-
ing that the cost per pupil will also rise to Rs. 40 per annum in the
meantime, we shall need about Rs. 4,400 million for this programme
in 1970-71. The recurring expenditure on elementary education
would thus have to be about doubled in a period of five years. Is
this additional amount impossible for the country to raise? Most
certainly not . One might probably have accepted the argument in
1961. But when we saw, in response to the Chinese aggression,
that our defence expenditure rose by about Rs. 1,000 million
in 1962 and by another Rs. 4,000 million in 1963, how can we
accept this logic? If the country could feel the threat of mass
illiteracy as deeply as that of Chinese expansionism — and it is, be-
lieve me, a potentially much greater threat— I am quite sure that all
this money would be raised, not in five, but even in one year. Poor
as we are, the lack of concern for the cause, the sheer lack of will,
and not the lack of monetary resources, is the real bottleneck.

V

Before I close this lecture, I shall briefly recapitulate the main
points that I have been trying to put forward. I have shown that,
in spite of the constitutional provisions and the lip-service paid to
mass education in all official quarters, the progress of elementary
education has been agonisingly slow in the post-Independence
period. That this is due, in part at least, to the tremendous diffi-
culties inherent in the problem is not denied. But my contention
is that this is mainly due to two other controllable factors. The

first is our failure to adopt the right strategy: the development of
programmes of mass education (which would include liquidation
of adult illiteracy and extensive education aimed at family planning
and the building up of scientific attitudes) side by side with
expansion of elementary education; the introduction of a system
of part-time education for those children who, for economic
reasons, cannot attend schools on a whole- time basis; the
adoption of a larger class-size or higher pupil-teacher ratio in the
first stage of the programme; and placing of greater emphasis
on the education of the age-group 11-13 than that of the age-group
6-10. The second, and an even more important, reason is the
failure to accord an adequate priority to elementary education —
the total expenditure on elementary education has declined from
about 40 per cent of total educational expenditure in 1947 to 35
per cent in 1960-61. It is argued that this lower priority is
justified on the ground that elementary education does not directly
contribute to economic growth. I have shown how fallacious this
argument is, and also that no economic growth would be possible
in India unless it is preceded by programmes of mass education of
the right type, including the provision of universal elementary
education for children, which alone can help us to control popu-
lation and to modernise the traditional social order. In my
opinion, this lower priority accorded to elementary education is
due mainly to the fact that the intelligentsia, which has come into
power at the end of the British rule, is now tending to transform
itself from a service group into an exploiting group. In this lies
a great danger, not only to the masses* but to the intelligentsia
itself and to the country as a whole. If this broad analysis is
accepted, I would close by appealing to all educated classes of
the country, who are now on their trial, to accord this programme
the highest priority possible, not only in their own enlightened
self-interest, but in the name of social justice, of humanity, and of
him who gave us our freedom and desired us to strive to wipe
out every tear from every eye.

Table I

PRIMARY EDUCATION IN THE LESS ADVANCED STATES IN THE THIRD FIVE YEAR PLAN

N J » OO

Tf r~- oo >n <n

't o d ci c4

© © ©

a\ q

O cn V-;

< t-H rj"

on vj \o o, n

VO p VN V© ON

<N CO (N Tl* —

oo 00 rt ON

oo "fr f; vo vo

» in ^ in q

ih in vo o' 'o

h n

OO 00 JCl ’d- <N

on O vo o

O VO ' Wl t“~-

2 l«n«spvooo o f-

f'! Tf t); rf ^ V£>

^ o' ^ d » r-‘ m'

<N ’-i

»n os «o

VO Irt N o\ N

»-i vi o\ x d

VO co t — ^

p © r- p on

^ ON ON On

▼H TH M 00

« <N

cfl r/% G3
tn

0^0

m rt ca ea

S *5 £ o

O p 4 p h

Less Advanced
States to

All-India 44.60 43.89 39.44 24.30 66.60 57.88 44.60 43.89 40.39 32.21 83.51 63.08

QUALITY AND QUANTITY

23

LECTURE II

Quality and Quantity

At present, no educational problem is exercising the public mind
so much as the rapid expansion of education accompanied by a
deterioration in quality. I welcome this growing concern for quality
although I do not share all that is said about deteriorating standards,
especially at the elementary stage. I also question the popular
assumption, which seems to underlie so much of the discussion,
that quality and quantity are mutually exclusive and that you can
only have either one or the other. There is no inherent contradic-
tion between quality and quantity in education: all advanced count-
ries have been able to provide good education in adequate measure
and India also could do the same if the necessary finances were
available. The basis of this contradiction, therefore, is purely
financial: when there is not enough money to go round and cover
both quality and quantity, we are generally required to make the
painful choice between one or the other. As the resources
available to Indian education are limited at present and are going
to be limited for some years to come, the main question which
we have to face is the reconciliation between the conflicting demands
of quantity and quality. The problem applies to all stages of
education and is admittedly difficult. But it is not impossible of
solution and I propose to discuss in this lecture some tentative
solutions to it in so far as elementary education is concerned.

The first point that I would like to press is that, at the elementary
education stage at least, there is no question of either quality or
quantity. We must have both — every child must be at school and
he must have good education. There is thus no choice about the
ultimate goal. But it can be approached in a number of ways.
In the first approach, there is an unrelenting stand on quality: all
existing schools are first raised to a prescribed minimum standard
and in opening new schools or admitting new enrolment, care is
taken to see that the standards are not lowered on any account
and are even raised, from time to time, to the extent possible. In

this approach, therefore, the cost per pupil is kept high and expan-
sion takes place only in proportion to the additional funds available.
In the second approach, quality is compromised with, costs per
pupil are kept low, and the first priority is given to enrol every
child in school as quickly as possible. When that task is accomp-
lished, at least to a substantial extent, qualitative programmes are
taken up and costs per pupil are raised as additional funds become
available. In the third approach, a compromise is attempted
between these two extreme positions and an attempt is made to secure
expansion as well as to raise quality simultaneously by dividing the
available resources between qualitative and quantitative pro-
grammes in some suitable proportion.

Which of these three approaches shall we adopt in elementary
education is the question. My view is that the second of these
approaches that adopts a crash programme of expansion in the
first stage and then concentrates on the improvement of standards
is probably most suited to Indian conditions. This can best be
shown by a reference to the development of elementary education
in Western countries. Here, the first stage was essentially one of
quantitative expansion. The costs per pupil were low because of
meagre salaries of teachers, large pupil-teacher ratios, comparatively
less expenditure on buildings, equipment and school contingencies
and the non-existence of ancillary services like school meals or free
supply of text-books and writing materials. The objectives of
elementary education were kept deliberately low, viz. confined in
fact to the mere attainment of literacy, and the total duration of the
course was consequently kept at a minimum, i.e. four or five years.
When these minimum tasks were complete, or substantially com-
plete, qualitative programmes were taken up. The objectives
of education were re-defined and made co-extensive with preparation
for life. This necessitated, on the one hand, extension of the dura-
tion of compulsory education, from 4-5 to 7-10 years; and on the
other, it led to a revision of curricula, necessitating the recruitment
of better teachers with high salaries and the adoption of low pupil-
teacher ratios. The non-teacher costs of education had also to be
increased by provision of better physical amenities and ancillary
services. Consequently, „ enrolments went up and cost per pupil
rose even more sharply. But the programme was ultimately com-
plete — every child had been provided with good education. The

24 ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN INDIA

principal lesson of the development of elementary education in the
West, therefore, is this: begin with expansion which has a limited
target and is amenable to a crash programme. Once that is complete
or mostly complete, begin the task of qualitative improvement in
which the upper limit is the sky itself. One needs eternity to work
for perfection and hence the best stage to attempt it is after expan-
sion has been put behind. Obviously, similar developments should
take place in India, or in any developing country.

By and large, it is this policy which has been adopted for the
development of elementary education in the post-Independence
period, although the Sargent Plan recommended differently. This
Plan, it may be pointed out, adopted the first approach of an un-
compromising stand on quality. It suggested that every teacher
must have completed the secondary school and received two years’
training. It also insisted on the payment of adequate salaries to
teachers, assumed low pupil-teacher ratios and made fairly adequate
provision for buildings, equipment, school contingencies and an-
cillary services. It also advised that the first five years should
be devoted to the preparation of teachers and that expansion, as
such, should only be attempted thereafter. This qualitative approach
has its own obvious strong points; but it is applicable, by and
large, to secondary and higher education. In particular, one would
readily grant that departure from it at the post-graduate stage
would be tantamount to disaster. But is it really so directly
applicable to the elementary stage where the pressures of expansion
are intense, or where, as R. V. Parulekar put it, expansion itself
is a value of great significance? Even philosophically, therefore,

I feel that the Sargent Plan overdid the case for quality at the ele-
mentary stage. But its advice was set aside, not so much on philo-
sophical as on practical considerations. On the attainment of
independence, a situation was created in which the masses, long
denied the privilege of education, were clamouring for it with all
their might and the new national governments which came into power
were almost itching to provide this basic social service to the people.
In a situation of this type, no one was in a mood to listen to the
advice of the Sargent Plan to devote five years to mere preparation !
The people wanted expansion, with quality, if possible, and without
it, if necessary. Very naturally, they got it without quality; but
I do not think any great harm was done.

QUALITY AND QUANTITY 25

While, therefore, I fully support the policy of expansion in ele-
mentary education adopted in the post-Independence period, I do
hold that, at the end of the Third Plan, a change in policy is indicated.

In 1947, the enrolment in classes I-V was only 35 per cent of the age-
group 6-10, and that in classes VI-VIII was only 9 per cent of the
age-group 11-13. Expansion, therefore, was then the crying need
of the day. In 1965-66, however, the enrolment in classes I-V would
have reached 76 per cent of the age-group 6-10 and that in classes
VI-VIII, 32 per cent of the age-group 11-13. Taking the age-group
6-13, as a whole, more than 60 per cent of the children would have
been enrolled in schools. We have thus been able to break the
back of the problem of non-attending children and have also put
expansion substantially behind us. I, therefore, feel that a stage
has now been reached when the emphasis on elementary education
may, by and large, be shifted to qualitative improvement; and if such
emphasis is continued and intensified in the subsequent two Plans,
we may be able to provide good elementary education to every
child in the country by 1981.

I would make only two exceptions to this general recommendation.
The first refers to girls. At the end of the Third Plan, about 97
per cent of the boys in the age-group 6-10 would have been enrolled
and it is mostly girls that would have remained outside. In the
Fourth Plan,'' therefore, an intensive effort to bring girls into schools
must be made in all the States. The second exception refers to the
six less advanced States of Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir, Madhya
Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. As I pointed out
earlier, these six States have not yet been able to put expansion
behind them. In these States, therefore, the emphasis on expansion
of elementary education will have to be continued for some years
more. But even here, quality will have to receive much greater
emphasis in future than in the first three Plans.

It will thus be seen that we began, in 1944, with the Sargent Plan
which chose the first approach of an uncompromising emphasis on
quality. But the country was not prepared to accept this advice
so that we adopted, in the first three Plans, the second approach
of emphasis on quantity in the first instance. But now that expan-
sion has been largely put behind, subject to two exceptions which
also will disappear in about five years, the general policy in element-
ary education in the next three Plans should be to adopt the ^

26

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN INDIA

third approach, viz. to develop quality and quantity side by side with
an emphasis on quality.

II

How shall we implement this new policy in elementary education?
For convenience of discussion, I will deal separately with its two as-
pects of expansion and qualitative improvement.

With regard to expansion, I have already said that I broadly
agree with the policy of emphasizing expansion which we adopted
in the first three Plans. In the next three Plans, however, certain
modifications would be needed even with regard to our policies of
expansion. For instance, our rate of expansion in the past has not
been rapid enough. To give good results, a programme of expan-
sion has to be a crash programme and. must be completed within a
few years. We must, therefore, revise our targets and aim at two
specific achievements. (1) The enrolment of children in classes
I-V is already equal to 100 per cent of the age-group 6-10 in the States
of Kerala and Madras, and in the Union Territory of Delhi. The
same targets should be reached in all the advanced States by the end
of the Fourth Plan (1970-71) and in the backward States by the end
of the' Fifth Plan (1975-76) at the latest. (2) A programme of
part-time instruction for children in the age-group 11-14 should be
started in the Fourth Plan in a big way, and by the end of the Fifth
Plan, it should be so developed as to cover most of the children
in this age-group who are not attending schools on a whole-time
basis. The first target is not very difficult. The total enrolment in
classes I-V will be about 50 million at the end of the Third Plan
(1965-66) and it will have to be raised to 84 million, which is the
estimated population of children in the age-group 6-10, at the end
of the Fifth Plan (1975-76). This implies an average increase of
about 3.4 million every year which should not be difficult because
our present rate of additional enrolment is about 4 million a year.
The main lacuna, however, is that most of the burden of this addi-
tional enrolment will have to be borne by the six backward States.
But even they will be able to rise to the occasion if some special
assistance is made available. The second of these targets represents
an entirely new programme. At present, we have only full-time
schools in classes VI- VIII that will enrol about 10 million

QUALITY AND QUANTITY

27

children at the end of the Third Plan (1965-66). In the normal
course this enrolment will increase to about 16 million at the end of
the Fourth Plan (1970-71) and to 25 million at the end of the Fifth
Plan (1975-76). But the total population of children in the age-group
11-13 is expected to be 46 million in 1975-76. We will, therefore,
have to enrol about 21 million children in this age-group on a
part-time basis (two hours a day for three days a week)— about
six million in the Fourth Plan and another fifteen million in the
Fifth Plan. This would neither be very costly nor Aery difficult.
But if such a programme can be put across, it will imply that the
expansion of elementary education would mostly have been com-
pleted by the end of the Fifth Plan and that, in the Sixth Plan, we
could concentrate our efforts almost wholly on quality.

There is one more aspect of this expansion that needs mention.
It will also imply that all new additions to ranks of illiterates will
be put an end to. We have to realise that, at present, the number
of illiterates is increasing in spite of all expansion of elementary
education which we have been able to secure. For instance, m 1951,
the total population was 360 million and the percentage of literacy
was about 16 so that the total number of illiterates was about 302
million. In 1961, the percentage of literacy increased to about 24.
But in the meantime, the total population increased to 438 million
and the total number of illiterates to 334 million. There is thus a
net increase of 32 million in the number of illiterates in spite of the
increase of the percentage of literacy from 16 to 24. Such a situa-
tion arises because a very large number of children are not either
enrolled in school, or if enrolled, leave it too early to have attained
permanent literacy. The programme of universal part-time edu-
cation for those children who. cannot, for one reason or another,
attend schools on a whole-time basis, will completely seal off such
leakages and permanently ensure that there would be no additions

to the ranks of illiterates. ■ . .

The second important modification needed in our existing pro-
grammes of expansion is to keep their cost as low as possible. At
present, our expansion programmes cost too much, mainly because
we are not prepared to accept money-saving devices like the
double-shift system. Consequently, there is very little left over for
programmes of qualitative improvement. I would, therelore,
strongly recommend that we should adopt the double-shift system.

28

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN INDIA

QUALITY AND QUANTITY

29

at least in classes I and II. This will raise the overall pupil-teacher
ratio and secure the largest expansion possible at the minimum
cost. In such an event, fairly adequate funds would be available
for programmes of qualitative improvement, in spite of the fairly
large expansion that is proposed to be achieved.

The third important modification which we will have to make in
our programmes of expansion in the next three Plans is to make a
conscious effort to secure equality of educational opportunity. In
the first three Plans, a large expansion has been secured no doubt;
but not having been deliberately organised on proper lines, it has
not necessarily led to greater equality of educational opportunity.
For instance, even at the end of the Third Plan, there will be appre-
ciable inequalities of educational opportunity at several levels
and in several sectors. From the national point of view, there will
be wide gaps between advanced States like Kerala or Madras
and backward States like Rajasthan or Uttar Pradesh. At
the State level, we find great differences of achievement between
certain advanced districts like Amraoti in Maharashtra and Bastar
in Madhya Pradesh. Even within the same districts, there are often
large differences between one tehsil of the district and another, and
even within the same tehsil, not all villages are equally advanced.
There are still large differences between urban and rural areas. From
the social points of view, there is great inequality of educational
development between boys and girls and also between the advanced
classes on the one hand and the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes
on the other. In the next three Plans, expansion of elementary
education would have to be oriented deliberately to the removal of
such inequalities. Suitable programmes to this end will have to
be devised. We should also evolve statistical and other techniques
to measure our progress in this direction from time to time.

Before leaving this subject, I would like to emphasize the fact
that the techniques of expansion adopted in the first three Plans have
served their purpose and that they will have to be greatly modified
to suit the demands of the next three Plans^; All expansion of
elementary education takes place in three stages.") The first is that of
universal provision in which an attempt is made to provide a school
within easy walking distance of the home of every child so that those
who desire to educate their children may have the necessary facili-
ties available. The second stage is that of universal enrolment

when an attempt is made to enrol every child into a school, by
propaganda, persuasion or even penal action. This is obviously
more difficult than the first. But even more difficult is the third
stage of universal retention in which an attempt is made to keep in
school every child who is once enrolled till he reaches the prescribed
age or completes the prescribed class. It is obvious that these three
stages are not mutually exclusive and that they often run into one
another. In the first three Plans, the greatest emphasis was on the
first stage, universal provision of schools. To assist in the realisation
of this goal, an Educational Survey of the country as a whole was
carried out in 1957.* It found that there were about 800,000 rural
habitations in the country. It assumed that a primary school should
be provided in every habitation of 300 people or more and that the
smaller habitations should be so grouped that every child would have
a school within 1-2 miles of his home. It also assumed that a middle
school would be provided in every habitation of 1,500 people and
that the smaller habitations should be so grouped as to create a middle
school within 3-5 miles of the home of every child. On these assump-
tions, it proposed the opening of about 103,000 new primary schools
and about 21,700 new middle schools. Most of these have been
opened in the last seven years. All the same, it would be worth while
to revise the educational survey in 1965 and, whatever task has yet
remained undone, an effort should be made to complete it by the
end of the Fourth Plan at the latest.

With regard to the second step in the programme, viz. universal
enrolment, our achievements in the first three Plans have been rather
haphazard. The main object of this step is to enrol all children in
the age-group 6 plus (with some exceptions in the case of children
of 5 plus or 7 plus) in Class I. But, unfortunately, we have not been
very conscious of this objective. What happens at present is that
children of all ages — from 4 to 14 and above — are indiscriminately
enrolled in Class I. We, therefore, find that although the total
enrolment in Class I is about 110 per cent of the population in the
age-group 6-7, only about 3 5 per cent of these are of the correct age-
group (6-7) and the rest are either below or above this age. The
age-composition of the class is thus extremely heterogeneous and the
appropriate age-group forms only a third of the total enrolment.

•Report of the All-India Educational Survey, Ministry of Education, Govern-
ment of India, 1960,

30 ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN INDIA

This creates several pedagogic problems in the class and also leads
to stagnation and wastage' We have to avoid such haphazard
enrolments in future and strive to change the age-composition of
children in Class I in such a way that about 80 per cent of the enrol-
ment would be of the age-group 6-7 and the rest mostly of children
in the ages 5-6 or 7-8. Given a conscious and intensive effort, there
is no reason why we should not be able to complete it by the end
of the Fourth Plan.

Once the children of the right age-group (6-7) are enrolled in
Class I, we have to see that they progress annually from class to
class, i.e. there is no stagnation, and that they do not leave school
till they complete 14 years of age or the elementary course. This is
universality of retention — the third step in the programme of com-
pulsory education — that can be achieved only by reduction of was-
tage and stagnation. This aspect of the problem has been mostly
neglected in the first three Plans so that wastage and stagnation are
very high at present: of every 100 children who enter Class I, only
about 40 reach Class V in the fifth year and only about 20 reach
Class VIII in the eighth year. By the end of the Third Plan, we should
have reached a stage, in most parts of the country, when about
90 per cent of the children will be going to school at some stage
or the other, but the overall enrolments would still remain small
because the average duration of school life of a child is only about
3 years instead of 7 or 8. The principal method of securing expan-
sion of elementary education in the next three Plans, therefore, is
not so much the enrolment of non-attending children (there will
not be any left very soon), but increasing the duration of the school
life of the average child from three to about seven or eight years^
Our third programme for the fourth and subsequent Plans — it
is a tough problem and we will have to grapple with it for 10 or 15
years — will thus be to make a deliberate and intensive effort to
reduce stagnation and wastage, or increase the duration of school
life of every child.

Ill

I have so far described the main programmes of expansion that will
have to be attempted in the next fifteen years and particularly in
the Fourth Plan. I shall now turn to the programmes of qualitative

QUALITY AND QUANTITY 31

improvement which have to be emphasized simultaneously in the
same period. I have already referred to two of these — the enrol-
ment of the childreri of the appropriate age-group in each class
and the reduction of wastage and stagnation which are essentially
programmes of expansion with implications for qualitative improve-
ment as well. The third programme that I visualise is a rather
unorthodox proposal, viz. that we should concentrate, in the Fourth
Plan, on the qualitative improvement of middle schools (classes
V-VII or VI- VIII) rather than of the primary schools (classes I-IV
or I-V). In the Fourth Plan, I do not have much hope of standards
being raised at the primary stage. The number of primary schools
is very large, more than 500,000, their total enrolments— 52
million — equal almost the entire population of the U.K. ; the annual
additional enrolment alone is of the order of 4 million; the paucity
of financial resources is forcing us to adopt larger classes and the
double-shift system would have to be introduced, almost univer-
sally, in classes I and II. Iu view of these conditions, no real quali-
tative breakthrough is possible at the primary stage unless very
large investments are made, which is not practicable at present.
I would, therefore, recommend that, in the Fourth Plan, a humbler
programme should be attempted at the primary stage. The objec-
tive of teaching should be the three R’s, good manners, healthy
habits, some skijl with hands, general knowledge which will include
familiarity with the physical and social environment of India — her
land and people — and the building up of some essential qualities
like sense of responsibility, cooperativeness, discipline and patriot-
ism. The programme should be mainly based upon the excellent
suggestion of G. Ramachandran — orientation of primary schools
to the basic pattern — and should emphasize activities like simple
hand-work and music, dance and fine arts. This — and the conscious
effort to reduce stagnation and wastage — is all that can be realisti-
cally attempted at the primary stage, and we should concentrate on
it. In administration, not low aim but failure is a crime.

At the middle school stage, however, I would recommend an
intensive effort to improve all existing middle schools to a pres-
cribed minimum standard in the Fourth Plan itself and to adopt the
policy of the Sargent Plan in subsequent years, i.e. to maintain all
existing middle schools at a given standard of efficiency, to insist
on all the new middle schools coming up to the prescribed standard*

32

33

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN INDIA

and to strive continually to raise these standards from time to time.
I make this recommendation on various grounds. The number
of middle schools is comparatively small at present, about 50,000;
their enrolments are still small — about 10 million; each middle
school is a fairly big unit of about 200 pupils with not less than three
teachers, the average being about 5; and most of these are situated
in the bigger and more accessible villages. It is, therefore, still
possible, within the limited resources that we have, to improve all
middle schools to a reasonable standard. Moreover, as the wastage
at this stage is very low (about 80 per cent of the students go up to
secondary stage), our investment will give adequate return
and whatever improvement we do will climb up to the secondary
stage^ I must also warn that it is essential to make this attempt in
the Fourth Plan only. In the fifth and sixth Plans, the size of the
enrolments will become very big, and the problem will again be
difficult of solution. Now the problem is comparatively easy.
Later it may be difficult, very, very difficult.

How do we improve the middle school stage? The first and the
most important measure is to appoint a trained graduate, on the
scale that we usually give him in a secondary school, as the
headmaster. All other teachers should at least be matriculates and
trained. In-service training should be provided for teachers.' The
pupil-teacher ratio should be kept low (25:1) and subject-wise
teaching — as in secondary schools — may be introduced wherever
possible. Greater attention should be paid to buildings and
equipment; school contingencies should* be increased; and a craft
should be taught compulsorily in all middle schools. Standards
in craft teaching should be kept high with the help of specialist
teachers trained in the crafts, good tools, adequate funds and
organisation.

If this programme can be put across in the Fourth Plan and
maintained in subsequent Plans, a good middle school would have
been established within 3-5 miles from the home of every child.
The influence of this model will soon begin to percolate to primary
schools as well, especially if we relate the work of each middle
school integrally with that of the primary schools in its neighbour-
hood. In the Fifth and Sixth Plans, the enrolments in primary
schools will not increase so rapidly because most of the expansion
would have been put behind. It will, therefore, be possible to

QUALITY AND QUANTITY

concentrate on the qualitative development of primary schools at this
time so that, by the end of the Sixth Plan, both primary and middle
schools would have been qualitatively improved. This is probably
the best strategy that will help us in providing good elementary
education.

This brings me to another radical improvement needed in ele-
mentary education— the improvement of the elementary teacher.
It has almost become a platitude to emphasize the crucial role of
the teacher in qualitative improvement; but so very little is done
about it in practice. I feel that this programme should receive the
highest priority in the fourth and subsequent Plans, and that we
should adopt a number of definite measures to promote it. The first
and the most important of these is to improve the remuneration of
the elementary teacher so that more able persons are attracted to the
profession. The average annual salary of elementary school teachers
was only Rs. 414 in 1946-47 and by 1960-61 it increased to Rs. 932
only. What is needed is a substantial improvement — to fix a mini-
mum of Rs. 100 p.m. and to create a scale of pay rising to about
Rs.200 in a period of about 20 years. There should also be a selection
grade, about 15 per cent of the cadre, which should begin and end at
some higher points. These proposals are related to the 1961 costs
of living and they will have to be modified to compensate for any
rise in prices that might take place from time to time. Secondly,
the existing “castes” amongst elementary teachers — the teachers in
government or local board or private service — should be done away
with and all elementary teachers, irrespective of the management
under which they may happen to serve, should have the same remun-
eration, old-age benefits and conditions of service. I also greatly
welcome the policy to provide a social security to as many families
as possible, which has now been initiated by the Government of
India and I suggest that social security benefits, on the lines of
those provided for the employees of the Central Government, should
be extended to all elementary school teachers.

The improvement in the general education and professional
training of elementary teachers is also equally important. In 1947,
the bulk of the elementary teachers had only completed the middle
school, only about 12 percent were matriculates, and graduates were
almost rare exceptions. During the last 16 years, the picture has
considerably changed. Most of the new recruitment to the cadre

34

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN INDIA

35

of elementary teachers now consists of matriculates — in some States
exclusively so — and about 20,000 graduates are already working in
elementary schools. We should immediately stop the recruitment
of non-matriculates as elementary teachers; and, during the next
three Plans, it should be our endeavour to increase the proportion
of graduates as largely as possible — the middle schools must be
largely staffed by trained graduates and the majority of posts of
headmasters of the bigger primary schools should also be held by
them. The duration of the training course — which is now only one
year in many States — should be uniformly raised to two years; and
in the Fourth Plan itself the backlog of all untrained teachers at
the end of the Third Plan (about 400,000) should be cleared and
the training facilities should be so increased that, by 1970-71, the
annual output of trained teachers should be about equal to the
annual demand for additional teachers. In-service training, which
just does not exist at present, will have to be provided for all teachers
on a well-organised and institutional basis so that every elementary
teacher will have about 2-3 months’ in-service training in every five
years of service. Literature for teachers would have to be brought
out on a very large scale in all the modern languages of India, and
ample facilities and inducements would have to be provided to them
to improve their general education and professional competence,
through a variety of in-service education programmes including cor-
respondence courses. The standard of the training institutions, which
now leaves much to be desired, will also have to be improved by such
measures as better scales of pay, training for teacher educators,
and improvement of curricula and teaching methods, and provision
of better physical facilities in terms of buildings, libraries and labora*-
tories. By and large, it may be said that the training programmes of
elementary teachers, which have been comparatively neglected so far
in the post-Independence period, should be emphasized and given
their due place in the next three Plans. In the Fourth Plan a great
effort should be made to wipe out all the past sins of omission and
commission in this sector. From this point of view, I greatly
welcome the establishment of the State Institutes of Education
which will make an earnest attempt to develop elementary educa-
tion through programmes of training, research extension and
publication. They have just come into existence and will have to be
carefully nurtured in the Fourth Plan,

QUALITY AND QUANTITY

In the Western countries, the standards of elementary
education rose through an interesting process. In the earliest
stage the objectives, duration and curricula of the elementary
stage were very limited, the teachers were low paid and they
had meagre general education with little or no professional training.
The output of persons who had received secondary or higher educa-
tion was too small and they usually felt it beneath their dignity to
teach in elementary schools. As time passed, however, the salaries
of elementary teachers began to rise and simultaneously the out-
put of persons who had received secondary and higher education
also began to increase. Better educated persons began, therefore,
to join the profession in increasing numbers; and with the avail-
ability of better teachers, the objectives and curricula of elementary
education began to be upgraded and its duration began to be length-
ened. Ultimately, both elementary and secondary stages were
integrated into a single “school-stage”; a common scale of pay
for all teachers — both elementary and secondary — was introduced
and in most cases the minimum qualification for an elementary
teacher was raised to a liberal arts degree with adequate professional
training (or its equivalent). In India also, we must start moving
in the same direction, using a rise in salaries, accompanied by an
improvement in qualifications, as our principal lever of progress.
If we can consistently keep up this programme for about fifteen
years, developments very similar to what has already taken place in
Western countries will take place in India also. That is to say, the
academic and social status of elementary teachers will continually
increase and the standards of elementary education will rise in
proportion.

There is another important trend, now well established in Wes-
tern countries, which we shall also have to adopt in India, viz.
the provision of ancillary services, such as school health (including
school meals), free supply of text-books, writing materials and
school uniforms. The provision of these services is now essentially
a responsibility of the home. But they affect the academic progress
of a child and his future so materially that we do not really provide
equality of educational opportunity by mere enrolment of all chil-
dren into schools. What is needed is that the State should take over
these residual functions of the home also so that, irrespective of
his birth, every child will have an equal opportunity to grow into

36

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN INDIA

QUALITY AND QUANTITY

37

adulthood. I concede the point that the provision of these services
is very costly and that it will have to be gradual; and I also concede
that these would rank lower in priority to the improvement of
elementary teachers. I do feel, however, that we can certainly do
more than what we are doing at present. The simplest
and the least costly ancillary service we can introduce is to give
free text-books and reading materials to every child. The existing
conditions are almost pathetic and a recent survey has shown that
about 40 per cent of the children in elementary schools do not have
even the minimum school text-books. If we can adopt the system
of keeping books and writing materials in the schools and making
them available to the children during school hours, the cost of the
programme would be considerably cut down and, even with these
limited facilities, it will have a great effect on improvement of stan-
dards. I would, therefore, strongly recommend the implementa-
tion of this programme in the Fourth Plan. Next in order would
be the provision of school uniforms. If a simple uniform is design-
ed, the parents properly enlightened on its utility, and some help is
given to the poor and needy children, it will be possible to put across
this programme also without heavy costs. It will obviously be a
great help in enrolling girls, particularly at the middle school stage.
The programme of school meals has already started— thanks to
the lead given by Madras — and about 8 million children, out of a
total enrolment of about 60 million, receive either a glass of milk
or a meal a day at present. But the programme depends almost path-
etically on foreign gifts of foodstuffs. I do feel that we should make
an effort to build up this programme on indigenous materials and
to expand it gradually as resources become available. It should be
our target to provide a school meal to all the poor and needy chil-
dren — who would be about 30 per cent of the total enrolment — by
the end of the Sixth Plan. The provision of school health services
will be still more gradual and will only advance as part of the general
health services being developed for the community as a whole. But
even here a higher priority could be accorded to school health
services that are mostly ignored at present.

There is one more programme which will help us to improve
standards, viz. the classification of elementary schools. At present,
we have no data to show the qualitative status of elementary
schools. I, therefore, suggest that we should define norms for

elementary schools at two levels — the minimum level which may
be designated as D and the desirable level which may be designated
as B. Schools which are better than the desirable norms may be
classified as A , those which fall between the desirable and minimum
norms should be classified as C and others which fall below the
minimum norms may be classified as E. All elementary schools
should thus be annually classified, on the basis of their standards,
in a five-point scale — A , B, C, D and E. Evaluative criteria for
this purpose should be designed and handbooks prepared for
using them. The first evaluation of the school should be done, on
the basis of these criteria, by the teachers and it should later on be
finalised by the inspecting officer in consultation with the teachers.
If such a system of the annual qualitative classification of schools
can be prepared and implemented, it will help materially in raising
standards. We should also devise, as a supplement to this system,
a programme of assistance to individual schools to overcome their
shortcomings and to rise to higher levels of classification.

IV

I shall now turn to another programme of qualitative improvement,
viz. basic education. As you are aware, one of the most important
problems in elementary education on which a firm and definite
decision will have to be taken and implemented in the next three
Plans is that of Basic Education. This scheme was launched more
than 25 years ago and in spite of all the support it has received
from the Central and the State Governments, it has not progressed
very satisfactorily. The total number of schools converted to the
basic pattern is comparatively small and the rate of further conver-
sion is so slow that it may take more than 25 years to convert all
elementary schools to the basic pattern. What is worse, the quality
of schools said to have been converted to the basic pattern is
poor and has not justified the expectations entertained from basic
education. In fact, it is the poor quality of these schools that has
led Dr. Zakir Husain to say that the system of basic education,
as it is practised today, is a fraud. It is, therefore, natural that
public interest in the programme of basic education should have
been considerably aroused especially after Dr. Zakir Husain’s
statement on basic education was made public. In the discussions

38

QUALITY AND QUANTITY

39

ELEMENTARY

EDUCATION IN INDIA

that have followed this statement, three trends can be discerned.
One group of thinkers concludes that basic education has failed
and that the entire experiment should be scrapped; another group
of thinkers is as firmly convinced as ever that the system of basic
education is the answer to the problems of universal elementary
education in India and pleads for a better and more vigorous imple-
mentation of the programme. In between these two groups, there is a
third group of thinkers which believes that the principles on which
the programme of basic education is founded are intrinsically sound
and advocates a substantial modification of the scheme before
attempting its universalization in the fourth and subsequent Plans.
This group of thinkers to which I belong is, however, under a moral
obligation to come forward with concrete proposals regarding the
manner in which the system of basic education will have to be
amended in order to make it more useful and effective. It is this
exercise that I now propose to attempt. It must be realised that
the scheme of basic education has undergone considerable changes
since it was first put forward in 1937. In fact, it has really under-
gone such vast changes that Shri G. Ramachandran is fully justified
in asserting that it is the most dynamic educational concept in
Indank educational history. It is this very dynamism that
emboldens me to suggest a few more changes.

To begin with, some misunderstandings need to be removed. Some
of the original features of the scheme of basic education which
created a good deal of antagonism have now been modified so that
there is no reason to oppose basic education on those grounds.
For instance, the self-sufficiency aspect of the scheme is now firmly
abandoned. All that is now expected is that a craft, if well prac-
tised, will bring in some income which should at least meet the
expenditure on raw materials and maintenance of equipment. It
should also leave some surplus which may be used for the benefit
of the students practising the craft. It is also now agreed that basic
education will not be cheaper than mere literacy education — it
is good education and, therefore, it will necessarily cost more.
Craft is no longer the only centre for correlation. Two other centres
for correlation — the physical and social environment of the child — ■
are also to be used as such centres. Even correlation itself is no
longer as exclusively and fanatically supported as it once was in
the past it has to be attempted naturally to the extent possible.

There is no longer an insistence on spinning and weaving as the
craft— the utility of other crafts, particularly agriculture, is admit-
ted, both in theory and in practice. At one time, English was held
to be contradictory to basic education and was not taught in basic
schools. It is now accepted as an integral part of basic education.
The use of text-books, once not allowed in basic schools, is now
generally accepted; and so on) I can give some more illustrations
but they seem to be hardly needed. What I would like to empha-
size is that the attempt to condemn or criticize basic education on
such grounds is not proper because the system has outgrown all
these earlier features.

To my mind, the main contribution of basic education has been
to make us realise that a system of purely academic and book-
centred education which the traditional schools provide is
not good for the country. The traditional ethos of our society
is that the educated man does not work with his hand. This is a
very harmful tradition because, under such a scheme, the spread
of education will lead to a fall in production and an increase of
poverty and will ultimately lead to a reduction in education itself.
In place of this, basic education has attempted to create a new
ethos that will link education to increased productivity and expects
educated men also to work with their hands to produce more
plentiful and r better goods than those produced by uneducated
persons. One thing is, therefore, certain. There is no going back
now, even if we were to abandon basic education, to the earlier
traditional system of book-centred elementary education. We can
only go ahead with a new type of school the curricula of which
will include work in some form or other.

Basic education has not worked in practice due to several reasons.
Probably the most important of these is the adoption of a wrong
strategy. For instance, it tried to introduce craft at the primary
stage where the numbers are so large that no experiment worth the
name was possible. Similarly, the idea that every teacher can teach
craft has not worked well in practice so far, nor is it likely to do so in
the future. I, therefore, feel that the correct strategy to universalize
basic education is to adopt the orientation programme of Shri G.
Ramachandran at the primary stage and to introduce the compulsory
teaching of a craft at the middle school and secondary stages (or in
the age-group 11-16) through properly trained and specialized

40 ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN INDIA

teachers. The grown up children at these stages learn a craft better
and there is less of wastage.

There is another reason why the teaching of a craft should be
emphasized in the age-group 11-16. I find that a child is weaned away
from manual labour and is made to develop a white-collar attitude
to work at the middle and secondary stages. I have made special
studies of rural children from this point of view in Maharashtra and
I have found that children who had completed the primary course of
four or five years in the ordinary academic book-ridden traditional
school were still able to work efficiently as agriculturists, barbers,
tailors, shop assistants and even as casual labourers. In other
words even the most bookish of education in the age-group 6-10
does not destroy the capacity of a person to adjust himself to manual
work in later life and to perform it with competence. A boy who
has passed through the middle or the secondary school, however,
finds it very difficult to take up and adjust himself to manual work;
and such adjustment becomes almost impossible when he passes
through a university and gets a degree or diploma. The conclusion
is, therefore, obvious. The weaning from manual work and the
development of a white-collar attitude begin at the middle and
secondary stages and are completed at the university stage. If,
therefore, we want to change the traditional ethos of our society,
to relate education to productivity and to accustom our children to
manual work, we must emphasize the teaching of the craft at the
middle and secondary stages and involve even university students,
to the extent possible, in manual and productive work.

If this analysis is accepted, the lines on which our present pro-
gramme of basic education needs amendment would be clear. I
would state them briefly as follows.

(1) At the primary stage (age-group 6-10), there should be no
attempt to introduce the craft and to emphasize its teaching. In
classes I and II, we need not attempt anything more than the intro-
duction of activities. This would be almost inescapable, in view of the
proposal to adopt the double-shift system in these two classes, on
financial grounds. In classes III to V, all that we should attempt is
the introduction of handwork and simple crafts like kitchengarden-
ing. In fact, I would sum up the education at the primary stage as
including : (/) a thorough inculcation of the basic tools of learning,
reading, writing and arithmetic; (if) the development of proper

quality and quantity

41

habits an education in citizenship and a programme of genera 1
information related to the social and physical environments of the
child- (i'h) plenty of activities, curricular and co-curricular, (iv)
handwork or kitchen-gardening; and (v) a much greater emphasis
on artistic and aesthetic activities such as painting, music and
dancing than what is provided at present. In my opinion, such a
nrogramme will be all that is necessary to provide the necessary
skill in the manipulation of fingers and hands, and to ay e
foundation of a programme of craft education proper which is to

follow at a later stage. t .

(2) In the middle and the secondary schools (from class VI to
class X), the learning of a craft should be made compulsory At
this stage the numbers to be dealt with are small. It would, there-
fore, be possible to appoint special teachers for crafts, to provide t e
necessary equipment, to exercise proper supervision and to see that
the teaching and the learning of the craft is done efficiently. T e :
wastage can be kept to the minimum at this stage and the
productivity would also be very high. There is no doubt that the
proper teaching of a craft at this stage would certainly bring in
return something more than raw material and the maintenance of

equipment (including depreciation). . ,

(3) At the university stage also, a good deal of camping should
be introduced in which students should be required to do manual
and productive work. This would continue to foster attitudes
which are built up earlier at the middle and secondary stages.

It is my firm conviction that basic education has drowned itself
under the uncontrollable flood of numbers by trying to introduce
the teaching of craft at the primary stage. This attempt has failed
—it could have hardly succeeded— and we are left with neither
resources nor energy to introduce the teaching of the craft at the
appropriate stages-middle and the secondary. I feel that the only
way out of the present chaos is to correct this mistake and for the
next ten years to concentrate on the proper teaching of a compulsory
craft in all middle and secondary schools. If tins programme is
successfully implemented, it may be possible, at a later stage, to
introduce some form of craft teaching at the primary stage also.

One more point regarding the relationship between quantity and
quality. It is our experience in the first three Plans and par 1 -
cularly in the third— that attempts made to pursue quantity and

42

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN INDIA

QUALITY AND QUANTITY

43

quality simultaneously have failed so far mainly because the quanti-
tative pressures are immense, and when these begin to rise the
qualitative programmes are driven to the wall and the funds meant
for them are mostly diverted to quantitative schemes. We must
see to it that this experience is not repeated in the next three
Plans.

In my opinion, the best way to save qualitative programmes from
such annihilation is to put them in the centrally-sponsored pro-
grammes. At present, all educational development programmes are
divided into three groups: (1) central programmes which are plann-
ed, financed and implemented by the Centre; (2) centrally-sponsored
programmes which are financed exclusively by the Centre, planned
by the Centre in consultation with the States, and implemented by
the States; and (3) State programmes which are planned by the
States, financed by the States (with some Central assistance) and
implemented by the States. At present, most programmes of ele-
mentary education are in the State sector. Consequently, they are
liable to all the quantitative pressures that are created at the State
level and, as most Central grants are used for State plans only, these
pressures also climb up to the Central level as well. All these con-
sequences can be avoided by putting the essential programmes of
qualitative improvement in the centrally-sponsored sector. As
the funds for this sector are provided in the Central budget, they
cannot be diverted, at the State level, to quantitative programmes.
This is, therefore, an ideal device to see that programmes of quali-
tative improvement are given due protection from encroachment by
the programmes of expansion and we should adopt it as a major
strategy in all the next three Plans.

Before I close, I would like briefly to sum up the main points I
have put forward in this lecture. I pointed out that, in the first three
Plans, we concentrated mainly on quantity and generally neglected
quality. In the next three Plans, however, we shall have to develop
quantitative and qualitative programmes side by side, with an
emphasis on quality so that we will be able to provide good education
for every child by the end of the Sixth Five Year Plan. From the
point of view of expansion, I have suggested that expansion should
really become a crash programme with a high tempo; that its costs
should be kept down as much as possible by adoption of devices like
the double-shift system; that a conscious effort should be made to

provide equality of educational opportunity; and that the techniques
of expansion adopted in the first three Plans should be changed
to suit the requirements of the situation in the next three Plans. I
have, for instance, suggested the revision of the educational survey
of India and the provision of an elementary school within easy walk-
ing distance from the home of every child, the enrolment of children
of the appropriate age-group in each class, conscious and intensive
efforts to reduce wastage and stagnation, and the organisation of
part-time schools for all those children in the age-group 11-13 who
cannot attend school on a whole-time basis owing to economic
difficulties. From the qualitative point of view, I place the highest
importance on the improvement of elementary teachers: their re-
muneration, general education and professional training— both pre-
service and in-service. I have also suggested that, from a point of
view of strategy, an intensive development of all middle schools
should be attempted in the Fourth Plan and that of primary schools
in the Fifth and the Sixth Plans. The second programme I would
like to emphasize is the provision of ancillary services: the supply of
free text-books and writing materials to all children before the end
of the Fourth Plan, and the provision of school uniforms and school
meals to all the poor and needy children before the end of the Sixth
Plan. I have also suggested the universalization of the system of
basic education with certain modifications. What is even more im-
portant, I have suggested that the funds required for the qualitative
improvement of elementary education should be put m the centrally-
sponsored sector to protect them from diversion to programmes
of quantitative expansion. If these fundamental steps are taken, the
foundations would have been laid for bringing about worth while
changes in the objectives of elementary education, its curricula and
teaching methods. It is essentially because of the absence of these
basic conditions that our efforts to improve the objectives of elemen-
tary education, introduce newer curricula and better methods
of teaching have not succeeded so far. Nor will they do so unless we
learn to put the first things first.

ADMINISTRATION AND FINANCE

45

LECTURE III

Administration and Finance

i

Some of the most crucial problems of elementary education are
administrative and financial, and it would be a very viable thesis to
assert that most of the present ills of elementary education in India
arise from two main causes: our failure to evolve a good system of
administration for the elementary schools and our inability to raise
the vast resources needed for a programme of providing good
elementary education to every childJ I, therefore, propose in this
concluding lecture to deal a little in detail with these two vital issues.

II

I will begin first with administration. Here the main tragedy is
that, in spite of experimentation spread over eighty years, we have
not yet been able to make up our mind on two issues: (1) whether
the administration of elementary education should or should not be
entrusted to local bodies; and (2) if it is to be so entrusted, the proper
form which this decentralization should take.

It is a curious coincidence of our educational history that when-
ever we took a decision to develop elementary education, we also
ecided almost simultaneously to transfer its administration to local
bodies. For instance, the Indian Education Commission (1882) was
established with the main object of suggesting the manner in which
elementary education could be developed. It recommended, on the
one hand, that the strenuous efforts of the Government should be
directed to the development of elementary education and, on the
other, that its administration should be entrusted to local bodies. It
was in pursuance of its recommendations that the administration of
elementary education was first transferred to local bodies between
1884 and 1889. The results were not very happy and showed
that elementary education would not advance, except on the basis of
an intensive State and Central effort. Lord Curzon, therefore,

introduced a new policy of Central grants and larger State initiative
in 1904. The second spurt of activity came in by 1921 when educa-
tion was first transferred to Indian control and almost every legis-
lature in British India passed compulsory education laws with a view
to achieving large-scale expansion and improvement of elementary
education. Instead of learning from the experience of the past,
the mistake of 1882 was again repeated: the local bodies were re-
organised and democratized and were entrusted with an almost
uncontrolled authority over elementary education. The results were
again discouraging and the “reform” was severely criticised by the
Hartog Report in 1928. Consequently, in some States, the powers
given to local bodies over elementary education were either partially
or wholly withdrawn or largely restricted. The third spurt of acti-
vity came in the post-Independence period when the Constitution
singled out the provision of universal elementary education' as a
directive of State policy in 1950. But very soon thereafter, on the
basis of the Balvantrai Mehta Committee’s Report, it was also decid-
ed to transfer the administration of elementary education to Pancha-
yati Raj institutions. The results have again been unsatisfactory
and have raised a number of disquieting problems. If this policy
is universally adopted — and that is what the Ministry of Community
Development would like to do — the future of elementary education
in India wquld be inseparably linked up with the future of pancha-
yati institutions. This introduces an additional factor of uncer-
tainty and difficulty in a situation which is already none too simple. 1

In my opinion, the situation has been vitiated by two rather extra-
neous considerations. The first is the compulsion we feel to entrust
the administration of elementary education to local bodies. In the
British period, this compulsion was political in origin because of
the need to transfer some innocuous authority to the people them-
selves — the goal of “self-government.” This tradition has continued
to linger on even when it is no longer strictly applicable. In addition
we also rationalise it at present on the basis of another slogan —
decentralisation. The second compulsion is to imitate Britain,
which has made us copy, a little too uncritically, their system of local
self-government to the exclusion of all valuable traditions in the
same field developed by other countries (e.g. France). I shall,
therefore, put before you a rather unorthodox approach to the
solution of this controversial and difficult problem, and I am sure

46

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN INDIA

ADMINISTRATION AND FINANCE

47

that it would be far more acceptable, provided these two historical
compulsions we suffer from can be shaken off.

As an introduction to my thesis, let me explain briefly the French
system of administration of elementary education. Here the most
crucial point is that the teacher is a servant of the Government
which undertakes to provide to every local community as many well-
educated, well-trained and well-paid teachers as it needs on the basis
of its local child population. The supervision of elementary schools
is also an exclusive responsibility of the State. But all the non-
teacher costs and programmes are a responsibility of the commune
■ — in France every single local community from the smallest village
of 100 people to Paris itself is a commune — which manages them
with the help of funds raised partly through local taxation, partly
through voluntary contributions of the parents and partly through
grants-in-aid from the State. Functions such as construction and
maintenance of buildings and playgrounds, provision of ancillary
services, assistance to needy or bright children are all managed by
the communes. The grant-in-aid from the State is given on a basis
of equalisation, that is, the richer communes get less and the poorer
ones more. The communes can at the most request the Govern-
ment to “recall” the teacher. But they have no other statutory autho-
rity over him. In practice, however, most of the teachers hit it off
very well with their local communities and so long as they do their
work properly — and there can be no shrewder judge of the quality
of work of a teacher than the interested parent— -things run on very
smoothly.

In my opinion, we would be well advised to adopt the French
system of administration of elementary education under which the
elementary teachers would be servants of the State Govern-
ments and all non-teacher matters would be looked after by the local
communities or village panchayats. I hold the view that there is no
substitute, in elementary education, for the keen interest which a
parent should take in the education of his child. This does not exist
very largely in our society at present, because of ma^ illiteracy;
and we try to make up for it in other ways such as improvement
of supervision over the village school. I would like to state catego-
rically that all such attempts have failed and are doomed to failure,
and that the one concrete programme on which we will have to con-
centrate, during the next three Plans, would be to develop mass

education and to awaken every parent to his responsibility for the
education of his children. If this could be done — and there seems to
be no escape from it, either in the short or in the long run — it will
be necessary to associate the local community, which consists of
conscious parents, with the local elementary school. We shall,
therefore, have to initiate a programme of establishing village
school committees — consisting partly of persons elected by the local
village panchayat and partly of those nominated by the Education
Departments for their interest in education — and entrust them with
fairly large administrative powers over local elementary schools.
In fact, they should be in charge of all matters except the control
over the teacher and should look after the construction and main-
tenance of buildings, playgrounds, the school garden and the school
farm; the provision of ancillary services to school children; the
association of the local community with the school; the enforcement
of compulsory attendance; the purchase and provision of equip-
ment, celebration of school festivals, etc. To enable them to dis-
charge these functions, they should have adequate funds at their
disposal which should consist of a minimum compujsory levy made
by the village panchayats, voluntary contributions donated by the
people and grants-in-aid from the higher levels on the basis of equali-
sation. This is the one programme of democratic decentralisation
which will do the largest good to elementary education and yet it is
the one programme that gets ignored under the decentralisation as
now carried out under the Panchayati Raj institutions. The Assam
Compulsory Education Act of 1962 is the only Act in the whole of
India which is based on this concept and I wish that other State
Governments would follow the example.*

If this view is accepted, all the teachers should be Government
servants. They will thus be equated with public servants and gain
in economic and social status. The existing “castes” amongst them
will disappear and a better type of recruit would be attracted
to the profession, particularly from amongst women. We must
realise that the quality of elementary education is just proportional
to the morale of the elementary teachers and that this would be the
highest in Government service and lowest in the service of a local

A. ,

# For details of the manner in which local communities can be associated with
elementary schools at the village level please see my paper in Appendix I,

48

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN INDIA

ADMINISTRATION AND FINANCE

49

body where every teacher is forced, willy-nilly, to become a pawn
in a local political game.

If association of local bodies at any level higher than the local
community is wished at all, the lowest level at which it should be
attempted would be the district. The Block is too close to the
village and the leadership now available at that level is of a low
calibre. Consequently, the teacher’s position is most weakened when
control over him is vested at the block level. At the district level,
there is generally a great distance between him and the members of
the local body and the adverse results on his morale are not so great.
Even in this case, however, I would very strongly urge that control
over the services of the teacher should be vested in officers of the
Government who should be loaned to local bodies as Chief Executive
Officers and not in the local bodies themselves. This will ensure
justice and maintenance of order. The local bodies at the district
level may be given full authority over planning the development
of elementary education, for raising and expending the funds required
for it, and for the determination of all general policy matters. What
we have tried to do in the past is to hope that the local bodies will
raise larger resources for elementary education if we could bribe
them with power over teachers. This is ethically wrong; it has not
worked out in practice; and its administrative and educational con-
sequences have been disastrous. The sooner we stop this experi-
ment the better. We should really organise an S.P.C.T., i.e. Society
for the Prevention of Cruelty to Teachers.

Ill

There are two more issues which I would like to raise in this context.
The first is the need to integrate all school education — from pre-
primary to secondary or higher secondary. In the past, primary
education was kept apart from secondary, mainly on linguistic
grounds — the former taught through the medium of the Indian
languages while the latter used English as a subject of study in the
first instance and, as soon as practicable, as a medium 4 of instruction.
There is no longer any need for this differentiation because the
modern languages of India have now been accepted as the media
of instruction at the entire school stage. Moreover, we have to
remember that in all the advanced countries there is no longer

any watertight distinction between elementary and secondary
education, and the entire school stage is treated as an integrated
system. As I have said before, this basic reform has also been
accompanied by another revolutionary development, viz. the
introduction of an integrated scale of pay for both elementary and
secondary teachers. Developments on these lines will have to take
place in India also; and the sooner we bring them about the better.
I f therefore, look forward to the evolution of an integrated system
of elementary and secondary education in ail parts of the country.

If this major reform is agreed to, it follows immediately that we
shall have to transfer to local bodies, if we decide to do so at all, not
only the administration of primary or elementary education, but also
the administration of the entire field of school education: from pre-
primary to secondary or higher secondary. I would like to point
out that such a transfer can only be made at the district level and that
it is fraught with far fewer evils than the mere transfer of primary or
middle school education at the block level. I, therefore, hold the
view that so long as an integrated system of school education has
not been evolved and primary education continues to be administer-
ed in isolation, it would be better to adopt the French system for
its administration. But as soon as an integrated system of school
education is evolved; it would be desirable to transfer its adminis-
tration to a specially constituted local body at the district level* 1
Even in this transfer, there should be adequate safeguards to protect
the interests of teachers and to see that their morale is not adversely
affected.

Significant problems of life cannot generally be solved in isolation.
The administration of elementary education is no exception to this
general rule and, in my opinion, it may not be possible to find a
satisfactory solution to it unless issues wider than elementary educa-
tion are also taken into account. My own proposal is that we
should establish a statutory Local Development Authority in each
district, at the district level. It should be responsible for preparing
and implementing an integrated plan of district development — a
plan which will consist of three parts, family planning, economic
development apd educational reconstruction. At present, the
labour force cohort (i.e. the boys and girls who attain the age of 16
and enter the labour force in a given year) suffers from three main
defects or difficulties. The first is that its size is too large— about 2

50

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN INDIA

ADMINISTRATION AND FINANCE

51

per cent of the total population— owing to the prevalence of a large
birth-rate. Secondly, its educational attainments are also very
meagre — about 60 per cent of the cohort would be illiterate, about
35 per cent would have completed primary schooling and attained
permanent literacy, about 25 per cent would have received more
than five years of schooling and probably completed the middle
school course, about 10 per cent would have completed the secondary
school, and only about 1 or 2 per cent might be graduates. These
are far too inadequate for the creation of a modern social order.
Thirdly, the rate of economic development, especially in rural
areas, is so slow that there are not enough jobs for even half of this
cohort. What is worse, the little education that has been given
to its personnel is so predominantly academic that there are no
suitably trained persons to man the key posts in several sectors of
industrialisation that are being developed at present. It should be
the principal responsibility of this Local Development Authority
at the district level to prepare an integrated plan of district develop-
ment whose objectives will be:

(a) to reduce the birth-rate to about half in a planned programme
of 10-15 years;

(b) to bring about a very rapid economic development of the local
areas in such a manner that there would be a job for every young
man or woman who enters the labour force and who decides to
remain in the district (it may be assumed, by and large, that about
90 per cent of the children born in the district would remain
within the district); and

(c) to provide such education to the young boys and girls within
the district as will qualify them to participate effectively in this
programme of economic development of the district.

In other words, the plan will reduce the birth-rate, develop econo-
my and reconstruct education in such a manner that, as from a given
date to be reached in 10-15 years 5 time, there would be a job for
every person in the labour force cohort of the district a^d there would
also be a suitably trained person available for every job needed for
the economic development of the area. It is true that what I am
proposing here is a much wider programme of development that
will need a more comprehensive set-up for its administration. What

I want to emphasize is that some such broader vision of the problem
is inescapable and that the administrative problems of elementary
education can be solved satisfactorily only against such a com-
prehensive background.

IV

The second point to which I would like to invite your attention
refers to a scientific approach to the problem of decentralisation.
I find that, at present, “decentralisation” has become a slogan— a
device which is intrinsically accepted to be good. It is, therefore,
a fashion at present to decry centralisation and to praise decentrali-
sation to such an extent that a person who might venture even to
whisper a word against it is immediately dubbed a philistine. A little
careful study will, however, show that these attitudes are unscienti-
fic and irrational. Centralisation is neither inherently good nor bad
and the same may be said of decentralisation. It all depends upon
what you propose to centralise or to decentralise. Huxley defined
“dirt” as “matter out of place.” Human dung, for instance, is
“dirt” in the drawing room; but it becomes the most invaluable ferti-
lizer in the rice field. The same analogy is applicable to centralisa-
tion or decentralisation. It would be disastrous to decentralise the
defence of India and in the same way it would be equally disastrous
to centralise the administration of local sanitation. The real point
at issue is, therefore, something different. We must find out the
proper administrative level at which a given function can be
performed most economically and efficiently and assign it to that
level, irrespective of the fact whether such a decision would mean
“centralisation” or “decentralisation” in comparison with the
existing administrative practices.

On this basis, I carried out a small experiment regarding the ad-
ministration of elementary education which you might find of some
interest. The first step in the experiment was to prepare as complete
a list as possible of the different things that have to be done in the
administration of elementary education. When I started compiling
this, I found, to my surprise, that there were as many as about a
hundred different- functions of administration all of which fell under
the general category of the “administration of elementary education.)*
I also found that the functions included in the list covered an

52

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN INDIA

extremely wide range of complexity— from such simple things as
current repairs of the school building at one and to the extremely
difficult problem of equalisation of educational opportunity between
the different States and Union Territories at the other. The general
belief is that the administration of elementary education is a very
simple matter which could be entrusted to any officer or any agency.
This is far from correct and one has only to conduct an investigation
of this type to realise how vast and complicated an area is covered
under the innocent-looking phrase “administration of elementary
education.” I then sent round this list to about 100 persons including
educationists, administrators, teachers, etc. and requested them to
give their opinion, against each function included in the list, as to
the level at which it may be performed with the greatest efficiency
and economy. I found that, by almost universal agreement, a large
number of functions came to be assigned to the local community
or the village panchayat level. This included maintenance of school
buildings, construction of school buildings (unless the work was very
costly and complicated), provision of equipment (unless the equip-
ment was costly or difficult to obtain), the provision and maintenance
of school playgrounds, the provision of school farms, supply of free
text-books and writing materials to poor and needy children, provi-
sion of school meals, the celebration of school festivals and functions,
arranging school excursions, enforcement of compulsory attendance!
organising programmes to bring the school and the community
together, providing residential accommodation fbr the teachers
elementary supervision over the local school and assistance to
teachers, etc. Quite a few functions were assigned to the district
level. These included planning, recruitment of personnel, supervis-
ing construction of the bigger school buildings, provision of the cost-
lier or difficult-to-get equipment, control over the services of teachers,
raising local rates for the support of elementary education, super-
vision over the work of the school committees, especially at the local
community or village panchayat level, organisation of health services
and payment of grants-in-aid to them, etc. Some further functions
were assigned to the State level. These included the preparation of
text-books, revision of curricula, training of teachers— pre-service
and in-service— supervision over the district authorities in charge of
elementary education and payment of grants to them, legislation
relating to elementary education, equalising educational opportunity

ADMINISTRATION AND FINANCE 53

between the different districts, etc. A few but very significant func-
tions came to be allocated even to the Government of India. These
included the equalisation of educational opportunity between
different parts of the Union and the payment of grants-in-aid to
State Governments and Union Territories for the development of
elementary education. It will thus be seen that all authorities from
the village level to the Government of India are involved in the admi-
nistration of elementary education in some way or the other. It
would, therefore, be wrong to talk of “centralisation” or “decentra-
lisation” in this context because the administration of elementary
education is ultimately the joint responsibility of all agencies. This
is also, I may incidentally point out, implicit in our Constitution.
Article 45 makes the “State” responsible for the provision of com-
pulsory and free education for all children till they reach the age of
14. Article 12 defines the expression “State” to include “the Govern-
ment and Parliament of India, the Governments and Legislatures of
each of the States, and all local or other authorities within the terri-
tory of India or under the control of the Government of India.” I
would, therefore, suggest that we should, in discussing this problem,
talk more about the level to which each function in the administra-
tion of elementary education is to be assigned rather than in terms
of the slogans of centralisation or decentralisation.

I may also incidentally point out that, in this study, hardly any
important functions came to be assigned to the Block level. The
major error of the Community Development programme, therefore,
has been to entrust primary education to the Block rather. than to the
district level.

- :..Z. v Z

I shall now turn to the financial issues. Here the first question for
decision or speculation is the amount that we are likely to need or be
able to raise for programmes of elementary education. Taking the
need-based approach first, I may say that we will need a recurring
expenditure of about Rs. 100 per pupil at 1961 prices. This presumes
an expenditure of Rs. 60 per pupil on account of “teacher costs.”
U have assumed an average annual salary of Rs. 2,000 per
teacher as against Rs. 932 in 1961 and a pupil-teacher ratio of 40
m enrolment or about 35-36 in average attendance.) The balance

54

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN INDIA

ADMINISTRATION AND FINANCE

55

of Rs. 40 would be needed for the non-teacher costs — buildings,
equipment, school health services, free supply of text-books and
uniforms. At the end of the Third Plan, the average cost per pupil
is expected to be about Rs. 33 and hence the above proposal implies
trebling of the recurring cost per pupil at constant prices. With
regard to the capital costs, we shall need an expenditure ofRs. 200
per child — Rs. 100 for buildings and an equal sum for equipment.
As provisions will have to be made for about 120 million children
for non-recurring expenditure (80 million of new enrolment in the
next three Plans and 40 million out of a total enrolment of 60 mill-
ion for the backlog to be cleared at the end of the Third Plan), we
shall need a sum of about Rs. 24 billion spread over the next 15
years, or at the rate of about 1.6 billion per year which works out
at about 1 5 per cent of the total recurring costs of elementary educa-
tion in this period.

I must make it clear that even this huge sum is very meagre as
compared to what is being spent on elementary education in theU.K.
or the U.S.A. or any of the advanced countries of the West. This
amount, however reasonable, seems to be ruled out from the prac-
tical point of view at our levels of national income. I would, there-
fore, personally prefer to hitch our wagon to a much lower stair,
say, Rs. 70 per child per year in 1981. This would include an ave-
rage salary of Rs. 1,800 per year for the elementary teacher and a
pupil-teacher ratio of 40. The non-teacher costs would also be
less — about Rs. 20 per child per year so that the ancillary services
would be provided only to the poor apd the needy children (about
■ 30 per cent of the total, enrolment) rather than to all. The non-...
» recurring costs on building and equipment would also be kept at
the minimum— about 7 per cent of the total expenditure on ele-
mentary education, instead of about 16 per cent as in the previous
estimate. Even on these conservative assumptions, the total
amount required for elementary education in India by 1981 becomes
fairly formidable. The latest forecast is that, in 1981, our popula-
tion would increase to about 700 million and that the number of
children in the age-group 6-14 would be about 140 million. Assum-
ing 100 per cent enrolment and a cost of Rs. 70 per child per year,
we shall need Rs. 9,800 million for the recurring costs of elementary
education. To this, we may add about Rs. 700 million for the
capital costs so that we shall need a otal expenditure of Rs. 10,500

million for elementary education in 1981. If we assume further
that the total expenditure on elementary education would be about
one-third of the total expenditure on education, the total educational
expenditure in 1981 would be about Rs. 31,500 million or Rs. 45
per head of population. This will mean about 5 per cent of the
national income, if the national dividend were to rise by then to
Rs. 900 (as I hope it will) or 6 per cent of the national income if it
were to rise to only Rs. 750. It is very difficult to make any definite
assumption about the national dividend. But two things are very
clear: unless we plan for a steep rise in the national dividend, we will
not be able to put across any programme of educational reconstruc-
tion worth the name; and if we do succeed in implementing a good
programme of educational reconstruction — of which what I am
suggesting is an integral part— the national dividend is bound to rise
very fast, faster than what we are inclined to believe at the moment
on the basis of our past performance.

I shall first try to show that the level of expenditure I have thus
projected is fairly reasonable. The total direct expenditure on ele-
mentary education in 1949-50— the first year for which statistics
for the entire country are available — was Rs. 401 million and it rose
to Rs. 1,164 million in 1961 and it is expected to increase to Rs. 2,000
million in 1965-66. In this period of 16 years, the enrolments in
elementary education are expected to increase from about 21 million
to about 60 million (i.e. nearly trebled) and the cost per pupil has
increased from Rs. 20.7 to about Rs. 33 (i.e. increased to about
one and a half times). The total increase in expenditure has, there-
fore, been about five times, i.e. roughly about ten per cent per year.
What I am proposing is that a similar development should take
place in the next fifteen years. That is to say, the expenditure should
increase about five times— from Rs. 2,000 million in 1965-66 to
Rs. 10,500 million in 1980-81 — by increasing the enrolment from
about 60 million to about 140 million (an increase to about two and
a half times) qnd by about doubling the cost per pupil — from Rs. 33
to Rs. 70. As is to be expected, the increase in the cost per pupil
is steeper in the next three Plans than in the first three because of
the great emphasis on quality and the rise in enrolments is less steep
because the bulk of the expansion has been put behind in the first
three Plans. The effort has already been done once in the last 15
years and surely it is not too much to expect that a similar effort

56

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN INDIA

would be made in the next three Plans also.

We must also remember that we spend too little on education at
present and give too low a priority to elementary education. Even
at the end of the Third Plan, India will be spending only Rs. 5,500
million on education, which will mean only about 3.1 per cent of
the national income and only 36 per cent of this (instead of the
recommended 50) would be devoted to elementary education. The
advanced countries spend much more on education. For instance,
the U.K. spends 5.3 per cent of her national income on education;
the U.S.A. spends 6.2 percent; Japan spends 5.9 percent; and the
U.S.S.R. spends 7 per cent of her national income on education. If
education was to develop on proper lines, the Sargent Plan had come
to the reluctant conclusion that India “would have to follow the
practice of other countries and pay for it.” India must, therefore, be
prepared to spend at least 5 and preferably 6 per cent of her
national income on education and devote about 33 per cent of it to
elementary education. This is all that my proposals visualise and
they also provide a reasonable period— fifteen years— in which to
reach the goal.*

This takes me to the next issue: how and at what level is this
huge amount to be raised? In this context, I would like to invite
your attention to a curious paradox in the administration of ele-
mentary education: the responsibility for its day-to-day adminis-
tration has to be decentralised while that of its financial support
has to be centralised. The reasons for the decentralisation of the
administration are the ease, economy and efficiency with which
administrative responsibilities can be discharged at lower levels as I
have shown earlier. On the other hand, there are two very cogent
reasons for centralisation of financial support: the larger financial
capacity we find at higher levels and the need for equalisation. The
case for the first argument is easily established. The ability to raise
revenues is least at the local level, greater at the State level and
greatest at the Central level; and consequently the cause of ele-
mentary education— which needs large expenditure— has always
suffered whenever the financial responsibility for it was focussed at
lower levels— local or even State— and prospered when the State,
and especially the Centre, took a keener interest. The case for the

♦For details, please see my paper on Perspective Plan for the Development
of Elementary Education in India (1966-81) in Appendix II.

ADMINISTRATION AND FINANCE

57

second reason — equalisation — is not so obvious and needs some
explanation. It will be readily granted that,in elementary educa-
tion, whose chief objective is social justice, it is essential to maintain
a fairly equitable standard of elementary education in all parts of
the country and for children in all strata of society. But this should
be done only through a centralisation of financial responsibility^
For instance, the local community has to assume financial responsi-
bility for elementary education because it is only through this support
that equality of educational opportunity can be provided to all
the families within the local community — rich or poor. But local
communities also differ in their economic status — some are rich
while others are poor. The State has, therefore, to step in and
through its grant-in-aid — which should be larger to the poorer
communities and smaller to the richer ones — equalise educational
opportunity at the local community level. But the States also differ
widely in the size and type of problems they have to face and in
their ability to support education. So the Centre has to come in
with equalisation grants which will ensure that an equitable stan-
dard of this basic social service would be maintained in all parts
of the country. On both these counts, therefore, the responsibility
for the financial support of elementary education has to be centra-
lised.

How then do we resolve this paradox which needs “decentralisa-
tion’' in administration with “centralisation” of financial responsi-
bility? The only answer is an adequate system of grant-in-aid,
from the Centre to the States and from the States to the local bodies,
based on the principle of equalisation. It is mainly .because,
of our failure, to create such a system that elementary education does
not make a satisfactory progress. I, therefore, feel very strongly,
that this problem should be examined by experts at the highest
level and a satisfactory solution found for it before the Fourth Plan
starts.

I would very briefly put forward my own proposals on the subject.
If the total expenditure on elementary education is Rs. 100, about
Rs. 70 out of this would be the salaries and allowances of teachers
and Rs. 30 the non-teacher costs. At present, this proportion is
89 to 11, but in view of the proposal to provide better physical faci-
lities and ancillary services, I am assuming this modified proportion.
What I propose briefly is this system: (1) the Centre should giye

58 ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN INDIA

grant-in-aid to States on a 50 per cent basis for all costs on teachers
(including supervision and training); and (2) 'the States should give
grants to local bodies or communities, also on a 50 per cent basis,
for all non-teacher costs. In the final analysis, therefore, the Centre
would bear 35 per cent, the States 50 per cent, and the local bodies
15 per cent of the total expenditure on education. A similar system
exists in Japan and it is probably the best model that suits our
conditions.

The advantages of this proposal are obvious. By linking Cen-
tral aid to salaries and allowances of teachers, we take the best step
possible: to assure a reasonable remuneration to teachers and there-
by to improve the quality of teachers, and ultimately, the quality
of education itself. Secondly, it will also raise the maximum of
local support possible for elementary education by interesting the
local community directly in the administration of non-teacher
costs and programmes. We may also modify this proposal further
by introducing the concept of equalisation and fixing the Central
grant to States in such a way that, although the average grant for
the country as a whole would be 50 per cent, the richer States would
get proportionately less and the poorer States proportionately
more than 50 per cent.* A similar basis of equalisation could also
be easily extended to the State grants to local bodies.

VI

If the proposals made by me so far are accepted, we would have
done three great things. We would have created a proper and decent*
ralised system of administration, raised all the resources needed for
elementary education— about Rs. 15 per capita of population by
1981— and evolved a proper system of grant-in-aid which would
ensure that adequate amounts are available at each level of admin-
istration to enable it to discharge its responsibilities efficiently. But
the car of elementary education runs on four wheels— not three— and
the fourth wheel, the motivation of the human factor, is probably
the most important of all. Better education does need more in-
vestment and more physical resources, no doubt. But it needs

*A self-contained paper on the subject prepared by me in collaboration with
Dr. E.S, Lawler is given in Appendix III.

ADMINISTRATION AND FINANCE

ft

human efforts even more — the combined efforts of the officers of
the Education Department, the teachers, the students and the parents.
Today, there is a tendency for each of these human agencies to
work less and less, both in quantity and in quality, and to demand
more of financial investment and physical facilities on the ground
that these are inescapable for better education. The fallacy of
this trend is obvious and an attempt should be made in the Fourth
Plan to organise a nation-wide programme of educational improve-
ment at all stages — from the elementary to the university — by try-
ing to motivate human agencies concerned to a more intensive and
a better planned endeavour and this movement should be kept up
in the two subsequent Plans as well. The basic assumptions under-
lying such an important programme may be stated somewhat as
follows.

(1) The mainspring of the qualitative improvement of educa-
tion lies in the will and effort of the people concerned with the pro-
gramme of instruction; (/) parents or the school community, (ii)
teachers, (Hi) administrative and supervisory personnel, and (iv)
students. An intelligently planned and concerted action on the
part of these human agencies, continuously maintained over a
sufficiently long period, will secure greater improvement in quality
than any financial investment, however large, can ever hope to do.
The basis of this movement should, therefore, be to motivate these
human agencies to put in their best efforts, in a coordinated manner,
for the improvement of education and to^jnaintain the tempo of
action so generated over a fairly long period, say, the next three
Plans.

(2) Every educational institution, even within its existing resources,
limited as they may be, can do a great deal to improve the quality
of education it provides, through better planning and harder work.
This does not mean that no attempt is to be made to improve the
physical resources available to the institution. In fact, one of
the primary objectives of the movement would be to try to provide
better physical resources to educational institutions through the
combined efforts of the State and the community. But what is
emphasized is the possibility of improving the educational pro-
gramme, through better planning and harder work, in spite of the
deficiencies in physical resources.

60 ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN INDIA

(3) To obtain the best results in the improvement programme,
it is essential to regard each institution as a unit, complete in itself,
and to prepare a fairly long-range programme for its development
through the concerted thinking of the parents, teachers and the
department with the specific objective of providing the best possi-
ble programme of education to each child enrolled.

(4) The secret of the success of the improvement programme
lies in two things: (a) intelligent planning; and (b) continuity of
effort which should animate all activities, day after day and year
after year.

(5) In a situation of the type which we now have in India, where
human resources are far more plentiful than the physical ones, only
those programmes can hope to succeed which under-accent the use
of physical resources and stress the achievements of the human
factor through harder, well-planned and continuous effort. So far,
the basic approach in programmes of qualitative improvement
has stressed the provision of physical facilities rather than the opera-
tion of the human factors. The improvement programme aims
to reverse this process and to stress the role which the sum total
of the combined efforts of teachers, supervisors, parents and stu-
dents themselves can make to qualitative improvement of education.

If such a movement could be organised on an intensive basis
in the next fifteen years, side by side with an increase in financial
outlay, the ultimate goal will be achieved more quickly.

The Grand Old Man of India, Dadabhai Naoroji, submitted a
note to the Indian Education Commission, on the 16th of September
1882, pleading for the introduction of universal elementary educa-
tion in . India. That dream of this great man is unrealised even to
this day. I have shown, however, that, given a proper plan and an
intensive effort, it is possible to translate it into reality by 1981 —
the end of the Sixth Plan. May I, therefore, conclude this series
of lectures in the hope that, when we celebrate the centenary of
this note in 1982, free and compulsory elementary education of
good quality would have been provided for every child in the age-
group 6-14?

APPENDIXES

APPENDIX I

Village Panchayats in Primary
Education

The great importance of bringing the primary school in close
association with the local community through some organisations
of the type of Parent-Teacher Associations, or institutions having
elected representatives of the local community such as Village
Panchayats, is generally recognised and the following arguments
can be advanced in support of the principle.

(a) The modern trend all over the world is to make the primary
school a centre for the local community and to convert it, in fact,
into a community school. This movement has made great progress in
the Philippines and China and such integration with the community
is also an essential part of the scheme of Basic Education. It is,
therefore, absolutely necessary to associate the local community
with the primary school, preferably through its elected representa-
tives on the Vilfage Panchayats.

( b ) An association of the village school with the village com-
munity has several advantages. It becomes an important project
in the social education of the adults; it is of great advantage to
the school itself in improving its working; it secures additional
financial resources to the support of the local school; and finally
it provides several opportunities for training the students of the
local school — who are the ex-community members of tomorrow-
in activities of social service.

(c) Compulsory education can never become effective in rural
areas until the local community is made to take interest in the local
school and is made statutorily responsible for the enforcement of
compulsory attendance.

(d) In several parts of India, and particularly in Madras, attempts
are being made to take the school closer to the people. The general
experience is that, in all areas where such experiments are beings

64

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN INDIA

VILLAGE PANCHAYATS IN PRIMARY EDUCATION

65

tried, the local communities come forward to accommodate and
equip the local schools and even to provide free midday meals
to poor children. An experiment on these lines, especially in the
field of school meals, is badly needed in Rajasthan also.

2. Proposed Functions of the Village Panchayats. Assuming
that Village Panchayats are to be associated with the administra-
tion of local primary schools, it becomes necessary to outline their
powers and duties in this field. The following is a tentative list
of the functions which may be assigned to the Village Panchayats
in this behalf:

(a) to assist the Panchayat Samitis in the preparation and im-
plementation of plans for the development of primary educa-
tion in their areas;

(b) to provide adequate accommodation and equipment for
local primary schools;

(c) to provide for the welfare of the children attending local
primary schools ;

(d) to carry out the current repairs of the school building and,
if directed by the Panchayat Samiti, to carry out special
repairs and construct new buildings;

(e) to exercise such supervision over local primary schools
as may be prescribed or may be directed by the Panchayat
Samiti by a general or special order;

(f) to be responsible for the enforcement of compulsory
dance in the village in accordance with the rules and regula-
tions prescribed for the purpose and general or special
directives of the State Government and the Panchayat
Samitis;

(g) subject to the funds at its disposal, to provide poor children
with slates, books, clothes and other educational equipment,

(h) to be responsible for the proper management of the School
Fund;

(i) to provide playgrounds and school gardens and to maintain
them with the assistance of the pupils and the staff of the
schools ;

(j) to make provision for drinking water and other necessary
amenities required by school children;

(k) to make provision, wherever possible, for midday meals
to poor and under-nourished children;

(l) to make provisions for school uniforms;

(m) to celebrate school functions and to organise excursions or
other social and cultural programmes in accordance with the
instructions that may be issued by the Government or the
Panchayat Samiti from time to time; and

(n) generally to exercise such powers and perform such duties
as the Panchayat Samiti may delegate from time to time.

3. A few explanatory comments on the functions listed above
are given in the paragraphs that follow.

(a) Function (a), as mentioned earlier, is formal and a corollary
to the fact that it is the Panchayat Samitis that are statutorily
responsible for the administration of primary education in the
entire area of the Block. It needs no comments.

(b) Provision of Accommodation and Equipment . In respect of
hiring buildings for the local schools, the cooperation of the Village
Panchayats would be very necessary. It is, therefore, felt that
the initiative in the matter should generally be taken by the Village
Panchayats. The final authority in the matter should, however,
be left to the Panchayat Samitis to whom the Village Panchayats
would submit their recommendations.

With regard to equipment it is suggested that this should be the
joint responsibility of Village Panchayats and the Panchayat Samitis,
the initiative and a large responsibility being left to the village
level. Under the present system* in which the supply of equip-
ment is a responsibility of the department, several practical diffi-
culties are experienced, some of the more important of which are
given below.

(0 The District Inspector of Schools generally invites proposals
from the individual schools regarding the equipment required.
Owing to shortage of funds, all the demands made by individual
schools can never be satisfied. The District Inspector, therefore,
selects a few items only from the lists submitted by the individual
schools. In doing so, however, all priorities are usually set aside
and the schools very often get things which are less urgent and
not others which they need very badly. Such a possibility is ruled
out when the purchase of equipment is left to the school itself.

66

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN INDIA

(//) There is a great delay in the purchase and supply of
equipment because the procedure of collecting the demands from
the individual schools, preparing and finalising the consolidated
demands, calling for and sanctioning tenders, manufacture or
purchase of equipment and its distribution to individual schools
takes a very long time — sometimes as long as 6 to 10 months. All
these delays would be avoided if the authority to purchase the
equipment can be delegated to the individual schools.

(iii) There is a general tendency on the part of the schools to
use equipment supplied by the department carelessly and roughly.
This trend would be greatly controlled if the local people are
made to pay at least the cost of the equipment supplied to their
schools.

(zv) Under the present arrangements, there is no local initiative
for the supply of equipment to schools. Under a good administra-
tion, it should be possible to set up a healthy competition between
the local communities in respect of the equipment in their schools
and it should be an object of pride to a local community to display
how well it is equipped. This can only happen if the responsibility
to provide equipment for the local schools is transferred to the
Village Panchayats which would be assisted through a suitable
system of grant-in-aid.

(v) Even if the authority to provide equipment to the village
schools is delegated to Panchayat Samitis, as proposed in the Act,
all the above evils would still continue to dominate the situation.
Their extent may be reduced, but they would not be eliminated
altogether unless the Village Panchayats are involved in the pro*
gramme.

The force of their arguments is obvious. On the other side,
however, the main argument is that it would not be possible for
every Village Panchayat to purchase all the equipment required
for its school in the local market. It is also true that there is often
a good deal of economy in bulk purchases which may be made by
the Panchayat Samitis. Thirdly, there, is also a fear that, if the
supply of equipment is made the exclusive responsibility of Village
Panchayats, the schools in poor or backward villages would suffer
very greatly. On a very careful consideration of the problems,
therefore, the conclusion appears to be that the responsibility for
supplying equipment to the local schools should be shared between

VILLAGE PANCHAYATS IN PRIMARY EDUCATION 67

the Vilkge Panchayats and the Panchayat Samitis on the following

(/) A certain minimum equipment required for each school-the
hst of such equipment shall be fixed by each Panchayat Samiti-
should be supplied by the Panchayat Samiti itself without waiting
for any popu arcontnbution from the local people or for initiative
from the Village Panchayat. e

left to the VIIlf 0 di p° nal | , eqUipment required - the initiative should be
left to the Village Panchayats which should arrange their priorities

and prepare their budgets which would be sent to the Panchaya

SarnkThas T „ ™\ appr0Val —Id imply that the Panchaya
Samit has sanctioned both the list of equipments to be purchased
as well as the tentative budget provision made for them
(m) It should be possible for the Panchayat Samiti, while convey-

by fte Villag e a ’p t0 m u k T th , e artiCkS WWch should be Purchasld
llr^t H K 8 . u n layat lnde P etl dently and those which may be
purchased by it through the Panchayat Samiti on the ground that
a bulk purchase would lead to economy.

("? ^ h f Pa n cll ayat Samiti should then prepare lists of all articles
required by the village schools which are to be purchased in bulk
y it on their behalf. It should then call for tenders, make purchases
and supply the equipment to the schools concerned.

, The Panchayat Samiti should encourage the initiative of

granHn P a a d ChayatS £ ° Pr ° V ' de equipment for schools by giving
grant-in-aid in proportion to the local contribution. 8

a ccLZ ^ 0f , CI,i/dren - F «nction (c), as listed earlier, is generally
accepted everywhere at this level. y

Viu? Sc ' W0 ‘ Bllildin Z s - Ordinarily, the only responsibility of a
buS PanC R h ? at T' d bC ‘° C3rry out repairs o/schoo!

Samif § ' BU , £ 'u the 0386 ° f efflc,ent committees, the Panchayat
struct* ‘° out fecial repairs and even to con-

for tl ” eW , bU ' dmgS ' In such cases > however, the funds required
for the works should be provided by the Panchayat Samitis

Primal ? T/ Ae L ° Cal Schoo,s - Under the Bombay

given to TXr R “ eS ’ Z! 49 ’ the powers of supervision to be
„ VlIIa S e School Committees have been specifically en-

umerated. A Village School Committee is expected to:

(1) visit all schools placed under its supervision at least once

68

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN INDIA

VILLAGE PANCHAYATS IN PRIMARY EDUCATION

69

a month; .

(2) note whether the number of pupils in the school at the time
of the visit corresponds with the number marked as present
in the attendance register and report any irregularity to the
Administrative Officer;

(3) report to the appropriate authorities any irregularity or un-
punctuality in the matter of opening and closing of the school
and the teachers’ attendance;

(4) see that the school premises are repaired and kept in a good
sanitary condition;

(5) supervise the expenditure of grants placed at the disposal of
the head-teacher;

(6) permit the head-teacher of the local school to leave his charge
in case of emergency and to grant him casual leave of absence;

(7) report the absence from school, without leave, of the head-
teacher and the assistant masters;

(8) hold charge of the single-teacher schools in the event of the
absence of the teacher on leave or in such other contingen-
cies;

(9) be present at the school at the time of the visit of any officer
of the Education or other departments; and

(10) be present at the time when the charge of the school is being
handed over to another head-teacher.

These may be of use to Rajasthan as a basis for defining the powers
of supervision over the local schools to be delegated to Village Pan-
chayats. In this context, one significant change may also be sug-
gested. Conditions vary greatly from village to village. In some
villages, there are even high schools at present and it is jjessible to
have some trained graduates as members of the Village Panchayats. It
would, therefore, be wrong to draw up a standard list of the powers
of supervision to be delegated to all Village Panchayats. It is

suggested that two lists of powers of supervision to be delegated to

the Village Panchayats may be drawn up. Some of these powers,
which would be very simple in character, would be delegated neces-
sarily to all the Village Panchayats. The delegation of other powers
should be left to the discretion of the Panchayats who would autho-
rise, by a resolution, individual Village Panchayats with specified
powers. Larger powers of supervision should be given to more

efficient Village Panchayats and power delegated should also be
withdrawn in case of misuse. This creates a healthy atmosphere of
competition between the Village Panchayats.

(/) Enforcement of Compulsory Attendance . Village Panchayats
should assume almost exclusive responsibility for the enforcement
of compulsory education. The responsibility for the following stages
in the enforcement of compulsory attendance should be placed
on them: (z) preparation of the census of children of school-going
age; (zz) publication of lists of non-attending children; (zzz) issue
of notices to parents of non-attending children; (zV) summoning of
defaulting parents before them; (v) grant of exemption from
compulsory attendance in accordance with the provisions of the
Act and the rules and regulations, and the general directives issued
in this behalf; (vi) passing of attendance orders; and (vz’z) launching
of prosecution against defaulting parent^

It would be enough to state here that the staff of the school should
give all assistance necessary to the Panchayat in discharging the
above responsibilities and it would be a special responsibility of the
Panchayat Samiti to supervise the activities of the Village Panchayat
in this behalf and also to hear and dispose of appeals in a few special
cases.

(g) Supply of Educational Equipment to Poor Children . Another
activity which could be entrusted to the Village Panchayats is to
make them responsible for the free supply of books, slates and other
educational equipment, and clothes to poor children. For this
purpose, they should be required to set aside some funds from
their own budget and the activity may also be assisted by the Pan-
chayat Samitis through grant-in-aid. Under the present system,
it is the State department which is responsible for the supply of
these articles to poor children. What happens in practice, there-
fore, is this: The District Officer calls for proposals from individual
schools. These are then scrutinised in his office and consolidated.
Then the articles required are purchased and supplied to the schools,
and by the time the student gets the books the month of October
or November is already reached. All this delay would be avoided
and the poor students can be provided with books immediately
on the opening of the schools if this authority is delegated to the
Village Panchayats.

(h) School Fund. Function (h), as listed in 2, would be discussed

70

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN INDIA

VILLAGE PANCHAYATS IN PRIMARY EDUCATION

71

in detail in a later paragraph.

(0 Functions (i) and (j), as listed in 2, generally call for no
comments but function (k), in 2, is important. In this context,
attention of the State Government is invited to what is being done
in the Madras State where a voluntary movement for Annadan has
been organised by the Education Department and where about ten
thousand educational institutions are providing midday meals to
more than three lakhs of children on a purely voluntary basis.

(j) Function (1) is similar to Function (k) and needs no comments*

(k) Functions (m) and (n) are also important. Function (m)
provides a good opportunity to bring the local community in close
contact with the local school and it is necessary to exploit it as
largely as possible. Function (n) provides for delegation of autho-
rity, over and above that which has been described above, by the
Panchayat Samitis and to deserving and efficient Village Panchayats.

4. Constitution of Village School Committees. So far, the
functions to be assigned at the village level were discussed. We
shall now turn to the consideration of another important problem,
viz. the constitution of an agency at the village level to deal with
these functions.

It is technically true that these functions vest in the Village
Panchayat. But it is too large a body to be saddled with this
work and in practice^# - would be better to constitute a separate
committee of the Panchayat to deal with all these functions. This
may be called the Village School Committee. Regarding its
composition, it is suggested that: (1) a Village School Committee
should consist of not less than four and not more than eight persons
who are above 21 years of age and who ordinarily reside in the
village. (2) The entire Committee should be elected by >he Village
Panchayat. (3) Half the number of members of the Committee
should be members of the Panchayat and the remainder persbns
interested in education. (4) There need be no educational qualifica-
tions prescribed for the members of the Village Panchayat to be
elected on the Committee. But the other persons to be elected
should have at least passed primary standard V. In special cases, if
a person so elected does not have this minimum qualification, his
election to the Committee would be subject to the approval of the
Panchayat Samiti. (5) As far as possible, every committee should
include a woman and/or a person of the backward classes. (6) The

jurisdiction of the Committee should be co-extensive with the
Panchayat and should include all schools within the area of the
Panchayat. (7) The Committee should elect its own chairman.
(8) The term of office of the Committee should be co-extensive
with that of the Panchayat. f

5. The School Fund . It is also recommended that every Village
Panchayat should constitute a separate school fund which would
be at the disposal of the Village School Committee and whose
primary object would be to enable the committee to discharge its
responsibilities in respect of primary education. This fund should
consist of: contribution of the Village Panchayat; voluntary
contributions raised from the local community; all income from
the school farm or craft; fines realised in the locality under the
Compulsory Education Act; such other miscellaneous items as
may be prescribed from time to time and grant-in-aid from the
Panchayat Samiti. A few explanatory comments on the above
items of income are given below.

Contribution from the Village Panchayat. At present, the Village
Panchayat is not expected to make any contribution for the local
board. This is wrong in principle. There is no difference bet-
ween a municipality and a Village Panchayat in the sense that both
are local governments for their communities and both of them
should be intimately associated with their local schools, and made
to pay for them. It is true that the resources of the Village Pan-
chayats are smaller; but this difficulty can be easily overcome by
prescribing a similar rate of contribution or by reducing the res-
ponsibility of the Village School Committee, or by providing a
larger grant-in-aid or by any suitable combination of one or more
of these methods. It is, therefore, proposed that every Village ,
Panchayat should be required to make a minimum statutory con- '*
tribution for the support of the local primary school or schools,
just as. the municipalities are being compelled in most parts of
India to suppgrt the primary schools within their areas. The rate
of contribution, however, should be smaller — two per cent for all
Village Panchayats whose total annual income (exclusive of
Government grants) is less than Rs. 5,000, three per cent for those
whose income (exclusive of Government grants) is more than
Rs. 5,000 but less than Rs. 10,000, and four per cent in all the
cases.':

72

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN INDIA

VILLAGE PANCHAYATS IN PRIMARY EDUCATION

73

Voluntary Contributions from the Local Community. It is
also suggested that every Village School Committee should be
encouraged to collect voluntary contributions and donations from
the^local public. A system of this type has existed in France since
1849 and it is now a national programme of great importance in
the sense that every school maintains a “School Chest”; under this
scheme, every school maintains a “chest” or a fund to which the
local public makes voluntary contributions in cash or kind. In
order to encourage such contributions government makes a definite
grant-in-aid to every school chest at a fixed proportion of the total
amount collected locally. The whole amount, including the govern-
ment grant-in-aid, is placed at the disposal of the local school com-
mittee for expenditure in connection with the school. It is usually
utilised for such items as providing the school with equipment,
managing the school gardens, taking the children out for excursion,
providing extra-curricular activities, providing free meals or clothes
to poor children, etc. Such an institution deserves to be encouraged
in our rural areas also. It is, therefore, suggested that: (a) the
School Chest scheme should be adopted forthwith; (b) every Village
School Committee should be authorised to collect money for the
local school; (c) the Panchayat Samitis should give a grant to the
School Chest at a prescribed percentage of the amount collected
locally; and (d) the whole amount thus collected should be avail-
able for expenditure in connection with specified items connected
with the local school.

Income from Farm and Craft. It is also proposed that all
earnings of a school from the school farm and/or the school craft,
should also be credited to the Fund and should be available for
expenditure on the local school.

Fines under the Compulsory Education ' Act: . It would be
desirable to give the receipts on account of fines Apder the Compul-
sory Education Act to the local school itself. This will create great-
er interest in the enforcement of compulsory attendance.

Grant-in-Aid. It would be an important duty of the Pan-
chayat Samiti to give grant-in-aid to the Village Panchayats in order
to enable them to discharge their responsibilities properly. These
grants would ordinarily be proportional to local contributions.
But in order to help backward and poor villages, the proportion of
the grant-in-aid should vary from one type of the village to another,

the richer village getting a lower percentage and the poorer village
getting a higher one.

It is felt that if the steps outlined above are taken, it would be
possible to stimulate adequate interest in primary schools as well as
to evoke the largest possible local support for the advancement of
primary education.

A PERSPECTIVE PLAN

75

APPENDIX II

A Perspective Plan for the Develop-
ment of Elementary Education
in India

The people of India have been demanding an early introduction
of universal, free and compulsory education for all children till the
age of 14; but the unfortunate position today is that it has not been
possible for us to adhere to any schedule for reaching this goal.
There is, therefore, a great public demand to the effect that the
Government of India and the States should prepare a phased pro-
gramme of expansion and improvement of elementary education with
the ultimate object of providing free and compulsory education
for all children as early as possible. Unless such a programme is
carefully drawn up, it will not be possible to outline the develop-
ment of elementary education that could be attempted even in the
Fourth Five Year Plan for which preparations are now under way.
In this chapter, therefore, it is proposed to discuss the broad out-
line of a possible programme for the development of elementary
education in India during the next fifteen years.

Magnitude of the Task . The total population of India, according
to the census of 1961, was 439 million and it is increasing at present
at about 2.2 per cent per annum. Various estimates of the growth
of population in India during the next twenty years have been made
and, depending upon their underlying assumptions, they show con-
siderable variation. But probably one whiph might come nearest
the truth is that based on the following two » assumptions: (1) the
expectation of life at birth in 1961 to accord with death-rate of
about 18 per thousand (47.5 years) which wotld increase by 0.75
year annually up to 1966 and thereafter at 0.5 year annually up to
1976; and (2) the present general fertility rate to continue up to
1971 and thereafter to fall to some extent owing to the spread
of contraceptive techniques (a fall of 5 per cent centred on the

mid-point of the quinquennium 1971-76 may be expected). On
these assumptions, the population of India would be 491.54 million
in 1966, 554.67 million in 1971, and 625.16 million in 1976. The
continuation of this projection further would give a population of
694 million in 1981. It is true that this is one of the “higher-side”
estimates. But our past experience has been that the actual census
counts of population are always higher than the highest estimates.
It may be that even these estimates ultimately prove to be on the
low side ; but we shall assume them as the basis of this Plan as the
best data available at present.

As in all other developing countries, the proportion of children
to the total population in India is much larger than in the advanced
countries of the world. Consider, for example, the following es-
timates.

Table I

ESTIMATED NUMBER OF CHILDREN IN SOME
SELECTED COUNTRIES
(In thousands)

Country and

Total

Number of

Percentage

year of

Age-group

population

children in

of

statistics

the age-group

(4)10(3)

</)

(2) -

(3)

(f)

(3)

Sweden (1958)

5-14

7,415

1,196

16.1

U.K. (b) (1958)

5-14

45,244

6, 933(a)

15.3

India (1961)

6-14

438,000

83,780

19.1

N.B. The population data has been taken from U.N. Statistical Yearbook ,
1959.

The population in the age-group 5-14 has been taken from UNESCO: Basic
Facts and Figures , 1960.

(a) Data for 1957.

(b) Data for England and Wales only.

It will be seen that India has proportionately more children in
the age-group 6-14 than the advanced countries have in the large
age-group of 5-14. The paradox of the situation, therefore, is
that the richer countries have more resources and fewer children
to educate, while the poorer countries have fewer resources and a

76

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN INDIA

A PERSPECTIVE PLAN

77

larger number of children to be educated^ This uneven balance
between the resources available and the number of children to be
educated diminishes as the birth-rate falls and the general economic
conditions improve; and a similar development will take place
ultimately in India also") But in the immediate future, we should
proceed on the assumption that Cwe will have to provide for the
elementary education of a proportionately greater mimber of child-
ren with comparatively smaller financial resources^

Estimates have also been made of the total number of children
in the age-group 6-14 in India during the next fifteen years, and
these are given in the following table.

Table II

ESTIMATED NUMBER OF CHILDREN IN THE AGE-GROUP 6-14

(1961-76)

Year

Age-group 6-11

Age-group 11-14

Age-group 6-14

Number

of.

children
(in millions )

Percentage
to total
population

Total
number of
children
(in millions )

Percentage Total

to total number of
population children
(in millions )

Percentage
to total
population

1961

56.14

12.8

27.64

6.3

83.78

19.1

1966

64.74

13.2

34.14

6.9

98.88

20.1

1971

73.35

13.2

39.00

7.0

112.35

20.2

1976

80.33

12.8

42.67

6.8

123.00

19.6

At the end of the Third Five Year Plan, the total enrolment in
classes I-V (which is assumed to correspond to the age-group 6-11)
is expected to be 49.64 million, and that in classes VI-VIII (which
is assumed to correspond to the age-group 11-14) is estimated to
be 9.75 million. The total enrolment in classes I- VIII, at the end
of the Third Five Year Plan' would thus be 59.39 million which
would roughly correspond to about 61.1 per cent of the total
population in the age-group 6-14. Since these targets ^re likely
to be exceeded, we may assume in round figures that (.the total
enrolment in classes I-VIII at the end of the Third Five Year Plan
would be 60 nullions, or 62 per cent of the total population in the
age-group 6-14)

The magnitude of the task that will have to be attempted can be
seen from the difference between the enrolment anticipated at the
end of the Third Five Year Plan and the total number of children
that will have to be ultimately enrolled, depending upon the target
date for reaching the objective. If free and compulsory education
is to be provided to all children in the age-group 6-14 by 1971, the
additional enrolment during the Fourth Five Year Plan would have
to be 52.35 million or roughly about 10.47 million per year, as against
the highest increase of about 4 million we have been able to achieve
so far. If the target date for reaching this goal is to be postponed
to 1976, the additional enrolment during the Fourth and Fifth Five
Year Plans would have to be 63 million. This works out at an
annual increase of 6.3 million, which is about 60 per cent higher
than the highest annual increase we have been able to achieve in
the past. If this date were to be still further postponed to 1981, the
additional enrolment during the Fourth, Fifth and the Sixth Plans
would have to be about 81 millions which works out at an annual
increase of 5.4 million. Lastly if one were to assume, as proposed
by the Sargent Plan, that this target would be reached by 1985, the
total additional enrolment during the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth and the
Seventh Plans will have to be about 105 millions which works out at
an annual increase of 5.2 million. The most difficult and the most
ambitious target would be to enrol all children in the age-group
6-14 by 1971 and comparatively the least difficult would be to reach
the goal by 1985. The target date of 1976 stands midway between
these two extreme positions. The planners of education in India
will, therefore, have to decide on one or the other of these target
dates for preparing a phased programme for the development of
elementary education in the country.

Decision on Targets . Which of these three target dates should
be selected? The decision depends upon a number of
important considerations. First is the question of overall priority .
The conviction is strongly held by some people that the provision
of universal and free elementary education to all children is essen-
tially a programme of social justice, of providing equality of educa-
tional opportunity and of laying the basic foundations of demo-
cracy. They would, therefore, accord this programme an over-
riding priority over any other programme in education and over
several other programmes in the Plan as a whole. These thinkers

78

79

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN INDIA

would, therefore, prefer to provide free and compulsory education
for all children in the age-group 6-14 by 1971, or if that were not
possible, by 1975 at the latest. On the other hand, there are some
who believe that other sectors of education, e.g. technical educa-
tion, secondary education, higher education, need a higher
priority and that the programme of expanding elementary educa-
tion could be slowed down after an enrolment of about 70-75
per cent in the age-group 6-1 1 is reached. As this position would
be reached at the end of the Third Five Year Plan, they argue that
we need not emphasize further expansion of elementary education
during the Fourth and Fifth Five Year Plans. According to them,
it would be better to realise the goal of providing free and compul-
sory education for all children in the age-group of 6-14 by 1985,
as recommended by the Sargent Plan.

The controversy about quality versus quantity also comes into
the picture at this stage. The earlier we place the target date, the
larger will be the number of additional children to be enrolled every
year and the less will be the available funds for qualitative improve-
ment of elementary education. These thinkers, who emphasize
quality, therefore, would prefer to postpone that target date while
those who emphasize quantity would tend to place it nearer.

Another important consideration is financial. Expansion and
improvement of elementary education is very costly and increases
the recurring liability to the Government to a considerable extent. In
fixing the target date for the provision of free and compulsory educa-
tion for all children in the age-group 6-14, therefore, one has also
to take into consideration the large finances involved. For instance,
if the target date is fixed as 1971, we will have to enrol 52 million
additional children during the Fourth Plan and the minimum cost
on this account would be Rs. 6,240 million during the Plan period.
If it is remembered that the total allocation for elementary educa-
tion during the Third Five Year Plan period was only Rs. 2,090
million, the magnitude of the task becomes evident. On the other
hand, if the target date is fixed later, the additional expenditure to
be incurred on the development, of elementary education becomes
less, and more manageable. After all is said and done, the resources
likely to be available for educational development during the Fourth
and Fifth Five Year Plans will have to meet several conflicting de-
mands on them from a number of other programmes. The deve-

A PERSPECTIVE PLAN

lopment of elementary education, therefore, is not likely to get an
allocation of resources which might make it possible to bring the
target date very near. Besides, any overriding priority given to
elementary education is likely to distort, not only the deserving
priorities of other sectors in education, but also the due priorities
of other important sectors in social or economic development. This
may not also be in the best interests of the country. All things
considered, it may be desirable, on financial grounds, to follow the
middle course in preparing programmes for the development of
elementary education.

It must^also be pointed out that even if the highest priority is
accorded to the development of elementary education and even if
all the resources necessary are made available, it may still not be
possible to enrol every child in the age-group 6-14 by 1971 or even
by 1975. This is because the problem of universal education is
not merely financial. A number of social , cultural and economic
considerations are involved and some of these have been indicated
below.

(a) Education of Girls. In the expansion achieved so far in the
age-group 6-11, it was the enrolment of boys with which we were
mostly concerned. By 1966, the vast majority of the boys in this
age-group would have been enrolled in schools and, in later years,
the additional enrolment to be attempted will consist largely of
girls. For instance, in the additional enrolment expected between
1966 and 1975 on the basis of 100 percent enrolment in the age-
group of 6-14, the number of boys would be about 26 million and
the number of girls would be about 38 million. This is a far more
difficult problem and would call for (1) an intensive educative pro-
paganda to overcome traditional resistance to the education of
girls and to popularise co-education as well, and (2) the prepara-
tion and employment of women teachers in far larger numbers,
especially in rural areas. The dimension, in this case, is more
social than financial.

{b) Expansion in Backward States. So far, the largest contribu-
tion to the total expansion of education at the elementary stage
was made by the more advanced States. By 1966, those would
have come much nearer to the ultimate goal. In later years,
therefore, the advanced States will play a minor role in the pro-
gramme and the main burden of expansion will fall on the less

80

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN INDIA

A PERSPECTIVE PLAN

advanced States. For instance, about 29 per cent of the non-attending
children in the country as a whole will be in U.P. alone at the
end of the Third Plan. This single State will, therefore, have to
put in an effort equal to one-fourth of the effort in the country as
a whole. A major part of the expansion contemplated beyond
1966 will thus have to be attempted in the less advanced States
which are poorer and obviously less equipped for the task. The
problem here assumes another dimension altogether and raises
difficult and complex issues regarding the responsibility of the Go-
vernment of India for securing equalisation of educational oppor-
tunity in all parts of the country and of special Central assistance
to backward States.

(c) Expansion Among Poorer and More Backward Sections of
Society. The expansion of elementary education achieved so far
has in the main covered cities, towns and the bigger habitations. In
future, we shall be called upon to expand education in difficult or
inaccessible forest areas, among the scheduled castes and scheduled
tribes, among the poorest or destitute sections of society, in small
hamlets of less than 200 persons and in several difficult situations
such as those involved in educating the nomads. We shall be
called upon to face the problem of handicapped or delinquent children
on an appreciable scale. In all those areas, the problem ceases
to be purely financial and several other factors — social, economic
and human — come into play. Programmes like midday meals, free
uniform and free text-books will have to be given greater weight
if children from the poorest and almost destitute classes are to be
enrolled.

(d) Expansion in Classes VI- VIII or in the 'Age-group 11-14. So
far, the bulk of the expansion that has taken place was in classes
I-V or in the age-group 6-11. By 1961; about 61 per cent of the
children in the age-group 6-11 had been enrolled and by 1966, this
enrolment will rise to 80 per cent. It will not be very difficult to
raise this enrolment to 90 per cent by 1971 and to 100 per cent by
1975. The main task to be attempted between 1966 and 1975 is
to increase the enrolment in classes VI-VIII.? This was 9 per cent
in 1946-47. It rose to 13 per cent in 1950-51 to 17 per cent in
1955-56 to 23 per cent in 1960-61, and is expected to rise to 29 per
cent in 1965-66. On this basis, it may rise to about 50 per cent at
the most in 1975. To increase this enrolment from 30 per cent in

:w

1966 to 100 per cent in 1971 does not appear feasible and to do so
even by 1975 will require large-scale effort. Here again the pro-
blem ceases to be merely financial. Social, administrative and
educational issues come to the forefront and the main problems to
be tackled are two. (1) How can we reduce wastage and stagnation
and see that most of the children who enter class I also reach class
VIII ? (2) How can we enrol all the children in the age-group
of 1 1-14 when they are wanted at home for some work Or the other ?

(e) Qualitative Improvement. So far, the programme has been
mainly quantitative; the question of qualitative improvement was
regarded secondary. In future, a stage will soon have been reached
where no further expansion is possible (except that due to sheer
increase in population) unless the power of the schools to attract
and hold the children is substantially increased. This implies that
qualitative improvement will be necessary as a means of increasing
enrolment. Quality is an end in itself, and the usual assumption
is that qualitative programmes would be taken up after the period
of quantitative expansion is over. But at the stage which will be reach-
ed in 1966, qualitative and quantitative programmes will have to
interpenetrate. The problem again ceases to be purely financial and
will have to be tackled mainly in terms of the preparation and
employment of thousands of competent, devoted and enthusias-
tic teachers who are willing to give their best to the community.

Keeping these considerations in mind, let us examine the pros
and cons of the possible target dates for fulfilling the directive of
Article 45 of the Constitution.

(1) Assumption No. I: Fulfilling the Directive of Article 45 of the
Constitution by 1985 . The Report of the Central Advisory Board
of Education on “Post-War Educational Development in India”
(popularly known as the Sargent Plan) had estimated that a period
of about forty years would be needed to provide universal education
for all children in the age-group 6-14. As the Sargent Report was
finalised in 1.944, it may be assumed that, according to the Plan, the
target could be reached by 1985. On this assumption, possible tar-
gets for 1975 would be (i) enrolment of 100 per cent of children in the
age-group 6-11, and (ii) enrolment of 50 per cent of children in the
age-group 11-14. This will mean that the total number of children
to be enrolled in schools by 1975 would be a 100 million — 80 million
in the age-group 6-11 and 20 million in the age-group 11-14. In

82

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN INDIA

83

view of the fact that the total enrolment at the elementary stage
would be only 60 million in 1965-66 (50 million in the age-group
6-11 and 10 million in the age-group 11-14), this will imply an addi-
tional enrolment of 40 million children (30 million in the age-group
6-11 and 10 million in the age-group 11-14) in a period of ten years.
This will require an annual increase at the rate of 4 million places
in classes I to VIII which is exactly the rate of expansion that would
be reached by the end of the Third Plan. In other words, the ful-
filment of the Constitutional Directive by 1985 would only call
for the stabilisation of the rate of expansion reached by the end of
the Third Plan for a period of ten years. The proposal has the
additional advantage of providing for a period of time needed for
consolidation and making available a part of the resources for quali-
tative improvement. There is a good deal in the proposal to com-
mend itself.

(2) Assumption No. II: Fulfilling the Directive of Article 45 of the
Constitution by 1980. An alternative assumption for the target will
be to fulfil the directive of Article 45 of the Constitution by 1980.
On this assumption, it would be necessary to enrol, by 1975, 100
per cent of the children in the age-group 6-11 and 75 per cent of
the children in the age-group 11-14. This will mean a total en-
rolment of 100 million children by 1975 (70 million in the age-group
6-11 and 30 million in the age-group 11-14). This will involve an
additional provision of 50 million seats at the elementary stage in
a period of ten years or an increase of 5 million seats per year. This
is only a little more than the estimated rate of expansion at the end
of the Third Plan. Under this proposal, the funds needed for ex-
pansion programmes would be much larger than under Assumption
No. I and the funds available for programmes of qualitative im-
provement would be correspondingly less. It will, therefore, call
for a much larger effort than that involved in Assumption I. Given
such an effort, it is quite possible to work out this target, especially
if the system of part-time education is adopted on a large scale for
the age-group 11-14.

(3) Assumption No. Ill: Fulfilling the Directive of Article 45
of the Constitution by 1975. A more ambitious programme would
be to try to provide free and compulsory education for all children
in the age-group 6-14 by 1975.* Under this assumption, the total
provision of school places in classes I to VIII would have to be

'• A PERSPECTIVE PLAN

increased to about 120 million (which is the anticipated population
in the age-group 6-14 by 1975) in a period of ten years following the
Third Plan. This involves an increase in the available school places
in classes I to VIII of 60 million in a period of ten years, or at the
average rate of 6 million places per annum. The achievement of
this target will, of course, involve a stupendous effort. Its main ad-
vantage is that the country would have fulfilled a pledge given to
the people as early as 1950. It will mean a very steep increase
in outlays and slowing down the programmes for qualitative
improvement.

(4) Assumption No. IV: Fulfilling the Directive of Article 45 of the
Constitution by 1971. In view of the importance of the problem
as well as of the keen desire of the people, a question is often asked
whether it would be possible to provide free and compulsory educa-
tion to all children in the age-group 6-14 by 1971. With the limi-
tation of resources, this does not appear to be a feasible target.
The population of children in the age-group 6-14 by. 1^71 will be
112 million and if free and compulsory education is to be provided
to all of them, we would have to provide at least 110 million school
places in classes I- VIII by 1971. In view of the fact that the total
number of school places in classes I-VIII will be only 60 million
by 1966, we shall have to increase the facilities for elementary
education by 52 million places which is about 2\ times the rate of
expansion that would be reached during the Third Plan. Even if
the proposition were administratively practicable, the expenditure
on elementary education would increase so rapidly during this
period of five years that it would immediately throw out of
gear the development of education in the other fields. This may
not be in the larger interests of the country. All things considered,
the possibility of fulfilling the directive of Article 45 of the
Constitution by 1971 or, in fact, by 'any date prior to 1975 has
to be ruled out.

It will, therefore, be seen that Assumption IV is totally ruled out
and that Assumption I is the most feasible target to aim at. Assump-
tion II is a little more difficult, but still practicable; and Assumption
III, which is most likely to appeal to the popular sentiment, is pos-
sible only through a supreme effort and at an immense cost. In
a further discussion of the problem, therefore, we will consider
the implications of all these three assumptions.

84

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN INDIA

i

A PERSPECTIVE PLAN

85

Phases of the Programme. In planning a programme of phased
development for providing free and compulsory education for all
children in the age-group 6-14 in India, a study of the history of the
development of elementary education in the advanced countries
of the world is of great use. It shows that a country generally
advances towards the goal of universal education in three distinct
phases.

(a) Universality of Provision. The first phase of the programme
is to provide an elementary school within easy walking distance
from the home of every child. This enables every parent who so
desires to send his children to school. This phase is the simplest,
although it has its own problems.

(b) Universality of Enrolment . It must be remembered that ex-
pansion of elementary education ultimately consists of two pro-
cesses — to enrol all children of the prescribed age (i.e. 6-7 in India)
in class I and then to retain them at school till they complete the
prescribed age (14 years) or course (classes I- VIII). The first of
these processes necessitates the formation of the right initial cohort
in class I. Here the ultimate target is to enrol every child of 6-7
in class I so that the vast majority of children in class I (say, about
90 per cent) comes to consist of children of the age-group 6-7 only.)
The remaining seats will be taken up by a few children of the lower
age-group who may be permitted to join under certain circumstan-
ces, and of a few older children in the age-group 7-8 who may have
escaped enrolment when they were 6 plus. As soon as every child,
or almost every child, in the age-group 6-7 is enrolled in class I (or
in any higher class to which he may be found fit for admission),
the target of universal enrolment may be said to have been reached.

(c) Universality of Retention. The third phase of the programme
of universal education is to see that every child, who is enrolled
in a school, does not leave it until the entire elementary course of
education is completed or the prescribed upper age-limit of 14 is
attained. When children come from well-to-do families or families
which appreciate the value of education, there is no problem of
premature withdrawal. The average duration of schooling for
every child in such a situation is equal to the duration of the entire
elementary course, i.e. eight years. But when children from poorer
communities or from families which do not appreciate the value
of education to the extent necessary are enrolled in schools, there

is a strong parental tendency to withdraw them as soon as they
become old enough to assist in some work in the family or
outside it and thereby earn some money, however little, towards
their maintenance. It is due to this premature withdrawal that the
average duration of school life for these children is so short — bet-
ween two and four years only. The lengthening of this average
duration to seven or eight years is the main problem to be tackled
at this stage, which will result in the reduction of wastage.

The first of these three phases would have been almost completed
at the end of the Third Five Year Plan; and even if some of the work
necessary for completing this phase is left unfinished, it could be
easily completed in the Fourth Five Year Plan. With regard to the
second phase also, a good deal of ground would have been covered
at the end of the Third Five Year Plan and the task left over for future
years would be in the sector of the enrolment of girls, children
from the backward classes and from very poor families, and of
handicapped children. The main task to be attempted beyond
the Third Five Year Plan, therefore, is the third phase, viz. the reduc-
tion of wastage and stagnation. As was pointed out- earlier, out of
every 100 children that enter class I, only about 20 reach class VIII
at present. This number will have to be increased at least to 80 and
this is essentially a qualitative programme oi* which the greatest
concentration of effort will have to be made in the Fourth and the
Fifth Five Year Plan.

The Problem of Teachers. If this shift to qualitative improve-
ment is to take place in the Fourth Five Year Plan and is to be con-
tinuously emphasized during the next 10-15 years, the improvement
of the elementary school teacher will have to be given the highest,
priority. The teacher holds the key position in education and
it is upon his competence and sense of duty that the standards of
education will ultimately depend. We will, therefore, have to
concentrate upon improving the general education and profession-
al training of elementary school teachers, and provide them with
satisfactory conditions of service essential to efficient functioning!)

A. General Education. What should be the minimum general
education expected of elementary school teachers? The policy
recommended by the Government of India is that the matricula-
tion should be the minimum qualification in general education for
elementary school teachers. By and large, this recommendation

86

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN INDIA

A PERSPECTIVE PLAN

87

has been accepted by the State Governments and during the last
twelve years, the percentage of matriculate teachers at the elementary
stage is increasing steadily: it was 12.59 in 1949-50 and is estimated
to have increased to 39 in 1960-61. The recruitment of matriculate
teachers, however, is increasing still more rapidly. In some States,
only matriculate teachers are recruited; in some others, preference
is given to matriculates in spite of a lower minimum qualification
prescribed ; and it is only in a few States that a proportion of the total
posts available is reserved for non-matriculate teachers as a measure
of economy (non-matriculate teacher has a lower scale of pay).
In 1950-51, the total number of matriculates recruited was about
54 per cent of the total recruitment. At present, about 75 per cent
of all new recruitment is that of matriculates only. In fact, the
average elementary school teacher now recruited is a matriculate
except in three cases: (1) women teachers, especially for rural
areas; (2) teachers for tribal areas; and (3) teachers for posts
reserved for non-matriculates. Since an improvement in the general
education of elementary teachers is imperative, it is suggested that
the State Governments should fix a deadline beyond which the
recruitment of non-matriculate teachers should be stopped
altogether, and that this deadline should not go beyond 1971 in
any area. In the meantime, intensive efforts should be made
to prepare women teachers or teachers for tribal areas in sufficient
numbers in order that the need to relax the minimum qualifications
prescribed does not, as far as possible, arise.

There is also another point to be remembered in this context.
The number of graduate teachers working at the elementary stage
has been consistently increasing. In 1949-50, the total number of
graduates working at the elementary stage was only 5,514^ but
by 1960-61, it is estimated to have increased to about 20,000. (.Ow-
ing to the rapid expansion of collegiate education on the one hand
and the improvement of scales of pay of elementary teachers on
the other, it is expected that the employment of graduates at the
elementary stage will increase still more rapidly during the next
10-15 years. This is to be welcomed and encouraged as an impor-
tant means of raising standards. It is, therefore, suggested that
every encouragement should be given for the employment of trained
graduates at the elementary stage, and that the target to be reached
by 1980 should be that every primary school with more than 200

children should have a trained graduate as its headmaster and that
every primary school with more than 500 children should have the
headmaster as well as the assistant headmaster as trained graduates.
At the middle school stage, the headmasters should necessarily be
graduates and as large a proportion of the other teachers as pos-
sible, not being less than 25 per cent, should also be graduates.

If one were to consider the expansion of general secondary and
collegiate education that is likely to take place during the next 10-15
years, the output of matriculates and graduates would certainly
be large enough to provide the necessary number of teachers re-
quired to implement the recommendations made above. The
only action tnat needs to be taken to achieve these targets is to bring
about a substantial improvement in the remuneration of elementary
teachers so as to attract them to the profession.

B. Professional Training. The expansion and improvement of
the existing programmes of professional training of elementary
teachers is another programme on which great emphasis will have
to be placed during the Fourth Five Year Plan. This problem
has been recently examined by the Study Group on the Training of
Elementary Teachers in India that has made fhe following signi-
ficant recommendations.

(1) There is at present a great backlog of untrained teachers
m almost all the States. It has been estimated that, by 1965-66,
the total number of elementary teachesjtin position would be 1.626
million and that as many as 406,500 of these would be untrained.
Each State should, therefore, fix a target date, not later than 1971
in any case, by which this backlog would be cleared. This could
be done by providing: (a) a short refresher in-service training course
of about 5-6 months for those teachers who are above 35 years of age
and have already put in about 1 0-1 5 years of service; (b) by providing
a short pre-service training programme of one year only to all
teachers who are below the age of 35 and have put in not less than
5 years of service; and (c) by providing full-time training only to
those untrained teachers who are below, 35 years of age and have
not put in more than five years of service. The costs and the time
required for clearing the backlog would thus be reduced considerably
without affecting efficiency.

(2) Each State should estimate its own requirements of additional
teachers during the next 10-15 years as accurately as possible. In

88

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN INDIA

A PERSPECTIVE PLAN

89

preparing these estimates, note should be taken not only of the
additional teachers required for new enrolment, but also of the
teachers required for replacement in the existing ranks due to such
causes as deaths or desertions. The training facilities in each State
should then be so expanded as to create an annual output which
would meet the additional demand for teachers completely. The
necessity to recruit untrained teachers would thus disappear and
one of the major causes which now lead to inefficiency in teaching
would be eliminated.

(3) The quality of training programmes will have to be
considerably in^proved by adoption of the following measures
amongst others.)

(n) The duration of the training course should be increased to a
minimum of two years for matriculates and for those who have passed
the higher secondary course. It should be at least three years
(which may be broken up into two periods of two years and one
year each) for non-matriculates. For graduates joining the ele-
mentary schools, a course of one year’s duration specially oriented
to teaching at the elementary stage should do.

- (b) The status of the average training institutions for elementary
teachers is very low at present, such institutions being generally equa-
ted to secondary schools. Although this might have had some justi-
fication when the average elementary school teacher was only
middle-passed, it is an anachronism now when the vast majority of
recruits to the profession are matriculates. It is necessary to upgrade
these institutions to the status of under-graduate institutions. The
reform will make it possible to give better scales of pay to teacher
educators and to improve their academic and professional quali-
fications.

(c) The average teacher educator of today has been trained in
an institution meant essentially for a secondary school and, more
often than not, his previous background and experience have also
been those of secondary education. That there is no programme
for his in-service education makes him even less suitable for his
job. There is a real need for courses of pre-service training for teacher
educators for elementary teacher training institutions to be organised
at the M.Ed. and B.Ed. levels. In addition to these, there have
to be special arrangements in every State for providing in-service
training to teacher educators, at the rate of about three months’

in-service training to every five years of service.

(d) The existing curricula have to be revised and more appro-
priate teaching methods have to be developed.

(e) The physical plant of the existing training institutions leaves
a good deal to be desired. It is necessary to prepare a blueprint
of a model training institution for elementary teachers and to indi-
cate its needs in terms of land, buildings, hostels, class-rooms, staff
quarters, library, laboratory, teaching equipment, craft sheds and
equipment for craft teaching, etc. An attempt has to be made to
see that all the existing institutions are provided with a good physical
plant on the lines of this blueprint within a prescribed period.
Care is also to be taken to see that all the new institutions that are
proposed to be established conform to the prescribed specifications.
Any economy to water down the standard specifications of training
institutions will prove false in the long run and seriously affect
the quality of education in elementary schools.

if) Training of teachers can never be developed in isolation. It
has to be integrated with educational research in the development
of improved techniques of teaching and the provision of extension
services to elementary schools. No attempt has been made so
far in this direction. It is vital to develop research and extension
wings in training institutions.

C. Remuneration and Other Service Conditions. The remunera-
tion of teachers will also have to be considerably improved. At
the end of the Third Five Year Plan, the average annual salary of
an elementary school teacher is expected to be Rs. 1,000. It may be.
pointed out that this is the overall average, with considerable varia- .
tions from State to State. If teachers. of .a better quality, are to be:,
obtained and standards of their general education and professional
training have to be improved as indicated above, the existing
scales of pay will have to be considerably upgraded) A reasonable
target to be adopted in this regard would be to double the average
salary by 1981. This increase is a little higher than the increase
that would take place in the national income per capita; but it would
make up for the comparatively low salaries that are being paid
to elementary teachers at present and bring some kind of parity
with that of other Government servants with similar qualifications
and responsibilities.

There are other aspects of the problem of remuneration of

90

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN INDIA

A PERSPECTIVE PLAN

91

elementary school teachers. The first of these is that of providing
a good system of old age provision (pension, etc.) with the aim that
teachers of all categories, whatever the type of management under
which they work, should be given the same old age provision as is
given to the Government servants, namely, pension at three-eighths
of the retiring salary plus a gratuity according to rules.

Second is the question of opportunities to elementary teachers
for promotion to higher cadres . Such opportunities are even more
effective than improved salary scales in attracting competent persons
to the profession. Barring a few States like Maharashtra or Gujarat,
no other State in India at present offers any avenues for promotion
to elementary teachers. It is suggested that distinguished elemen-
tary school teachers should be eligible for promotion as teacher
educators and supervisors of elementary schools. This sug-
gestion has no financial implications, but can go far in attracting
competent persons to the profession.

Pupil-Teacher Ratio. For the purpose of a perspective plan,
it is essential to estimate the number of teachers required to meet
the needs of expansion as well as of replacement. This can be
done only if a definite decision is taken regarding the pupil-teacher
ratio to be adopted.

Unfortunately, this is one of the most controversial areas in ele-
mentary education at present. There are two distinct schools of
thought. According to one, the pupil-teacher ratio should be as
low as possible and preferably 30 : 1. According to the other, a
high pupil-teacher ratio is inescapable in the present situation in
India and that the existing pupil-teacher ratio of 34 : 1 should be
deliberately raised, during the next five years, to 50 : 1. The main
argument in favour of the smaller pupil-teacher ratio is that it will
lead to qualitative improvement whereas the main argument in res-
pect of the larger pupil-teacher ratio is that it will enable us to pro-
vide a higher remuneration to teachers without affecting the pace
of expansion.

In this context, the problem of the introduction of the double-
shift system becomes very significant. Those who support a larger
pupil-teacher ratio recommend the adoption of the double-shift
system at the primary stage, or at any rate in classes I and II. The
adoption of the double-shift system will obviously increase the over-
all pupil-teacher ratio. Opposition to this proposal is quite strong,

on the grounds that it introduces inequalities, the teachers having
double-shift classes have to work harder without any additional
remuneration ; that the children learn less (although this assumption
is not quite correct) and that it lowers standards. A suitable com-
pensatory allowance to teachers who have to handle two shifts seems
to be obviously justified. The effect of their arrangement on stand-
ards of achievement needs examination. The following points
deserve consideration in this context. (/) The time for which children
are kept in schools in class I (or sometimes classes I and II) should
always be less than that for the other classes. It is a mistake to keep
young children at school for as long as six hours a day. Three
to four hours instruction is all that they need at this stage. (//)
Studies have been made in some places where the double-shift system
has been in operation. They show that there is no significant
difference in the learning of children who attend for three to four
hours a day and those who spend five to six hours a day, if
instruction is properly organised.

If the pupil-teacher ratio is to be raised without adopting the
double-shift system, a larger class-size will have to be adopted. At
present, the class-size is generally fixed at 4Q and this may have to
be raised to 50 or even 60. Even here, however, the same controver-
sies are in evidence. One group of thinkers will not agree to a class-
size of more than 40which, in the last analysis, will give an average
pupil-teacher ratio of about 30. The other group of thinkers
proposes the adoption of class-size with a minimum of 50 pupils and
a maximum of 60 pupils. If these suggestions are adopted, the
overall pupil-teacher ratio may rise to , 40, 45 or even 50. In this
context, it may be pointed out that there is no special sanctity for
any particular class-size. What matters is the method of teaching
and organisation to be adopted. There are certain methods of
organisation and teaching which can be used only if the total size of
the class is small, while there are others which can be used in classes
of larger size. If the proper techniques are adopted, it is possible to
obtain better results with a large class than with a small class where
the techniques employed are relatively unsatisfactory. Moreover, it
must also be remembered that the size of the class is not a purely
educational but a financial issue. When an educational authority
has to face a given number of children but commands only
limited resources for the appointment of teachers, the size of

92

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN INDIA

A PERSPECTIVE PLAN

93

the class gets determined on administrative and financial grounds,
irrespective of the educational theory then prevailing. It is not
always possible to make social and financial situations agree with
educational theories. On the other hand, it is always preferable
to utilise educational theories for devising solutions to problems that
arise from inescapable social and economic needs. The question
which an educationist should ask is what methods of teaching should
be evolved in order to enable the teacher to teach in a class of the
size which appears inevitable in the given situation. The teaching
profession in this country has not accepted intellectually the large
class as an inescapable necessity and it is not trained academically
to handle it in an efficient manner. Yet the average situation in the
country is such that six teachers out of ten are called upon to face
classes of very big sizes varying from 50 to 100. It is this contrast
between the training of teachers and their expectations on the one
hand and the needs of the social and economic realities on the
other— and not the large classes— that causes the present malaise in
(India. If we could only accept a large class-size as an economic
necessity for the next 10 to 15 years, if we could concentrate on the
evolution of teaching methods suitable for large classes, and if we
could train our teachers properly in the handling of these methods,
the educational standards would materially improve in spite of the
size of the classes.

The study of elementary education even in the advanced countries
shows that, in the initial stages, they adopted classes of larger
size in order to achieve expansion quickly and economically. * Later
on, as the pressure of expansion became less. and. the resources
available to elementary education . expanded/ the class-size. -was
gradually reduced. A similar development has taken place in
Kerala, the most advanced State in India in elementary education;
and probably a similar development will have to be planned for the
rest of the country, and particularly for the less advanced States.

At present, the pupil-teacher ratio is about 35 : 1 . The different
proposals made in this respect are that it may be raised to 40, 45
or even 50. Since the controversies on the subject are still strong
and since public opinion in the country has not yet crystallised on
this issue, it is proposed to calculate the total number of teachers
required as well as the expenditure involved in the programme of
providing free and compulsory education to all children in the age-

group 6-14 on the basis of four different pupil-teacher ratios — 35,
40, 45 and 50. Each State may then adopt such pupil-teacher ratio
as may be in keeping with the financial resources available to it.

Number of Teachers Required. The total number of teachers
required for the development of elementary education during the
next 15 years has to be calculated in two parts: (a) the number of
teachers required for additional enrolment in classes I- VIII; and
(b) the number of teachers required for replacement due to such
causes as retirement, death or desertion.

(a) Teachers Required for Additional Enrolment. The number of
additional teachers required for new enrolment will depend upon
the target date for the introduction of free and compulsory educa-
tion in the age-group 6-14 and also upon the pupil-teacher ratio
adopted. For the purpose of these calculations, three target dates
will be assumed (1975, 1981 and 1985) and, as suggested earlier,
four different assumptions will be made with regard to the pupil-
teacher ratios (35, 40, 45 and 50).

The number of additional teachers required for the expansion of
elementary education have been separately given in Table III on
each of these assumptions.

(b) Number of Teachers Required fotp&e placement. The number of
teachers required for filling the gaps in the ranks of the existing
teachers due to retirement, death, desertion, etc. can be calculated
if the “replacement rate” is known with fair accuracy. It may be
pointed out that this replacement rate varies from country to coun-
try and, even in the same country, from time to time, because it
depends on several social and economic factors. In several Euro-
pean countries, where the practice of a young woman working as
an elementary teacher till she gets married is common, the re-
placement rate is as high as 7 per cent. In Japan, where the tradi-
tion is to follow the profession steadily, the replacement rate is
less than 2 per cent. In a recent study made by the Ministry of
Education, it was found that (the replacement rate in India varied
from one part of the country to another. In the tribal areas, for
instance, where the conditions of life are very difficult, the deser-
tion rate is high. In urban areas, on the other hand, the deser-
tion as well as the death rates are lower. The studies on replacement
rate will, therefore, have to be conducted periodically and separately
for the different parts of the country.

A PERSPECTIVE PLAN

95

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In the study of the problem recently carried out by the Ministry
of Education, it was found that the overall replacement rate for the
country as a whole was about 3.7 per cent — 2 per cent for retren-
chment and 1.7 percent for desertion. As this study was based
on comparatively meagre data and as there is reason to believe
that its findings erred on the side of underestimation it has been
assumed, in this Plan, that the replacement rate for elementary
teachers would be about 4 per cent (2 per cent for retirement and 2
per cent for desertions and deaths) during the next 10-15 years.

If replacement is calculated at 4 per cent per year on the total
number of teachers in position in 1965-66 and if replacement is
calculated on the new teachers appointed, during the Fourth and the
Fifth Five Year Plan, at 2 per cent (in the case of these teachers
the question of retirement does not arise and the only reasons for
replacement would be deaths, desertions, etc. which account for
only 2 per cent), the total number of teachers required during this
period for the expansion of elementary education as well as for
replacement can be calculated. This is shown in Table IV. It
will be seen from this table that the minimum number of additional
teachers required during the Fourth and the Fifth Five Year Plan
would be 106,000 a year (on the basis of the^minimum target of
enrolment and the highest pupil-teacher ratio) while the largest
number of teachers needed would be 264,000 a year (on the basis of
the highest target of enrolment and the lowest pupil-teacher ratio).

Expansion of Training Facilities. If ^his required number of
teachers is to be trained and if new appointments to the teaching
profession are to be restricted to trained teachers only, the enrol-
ment in the training institutions for elementary teachers will have
to be considerably increased. Table V shows the enrolment needed
in training institutions in relation to (1) the target of enrolment,
and (2) the pupil-teacher ratio to be adopted, on the assumption
that (a) the duration of the training course would be two years and
that ( b ) the wastage in training institutions would be of the order
of ten per cent only.

The large expansion of training facilities needed in the immediate
future can be imagined if these requirements are compared to the
existing position in 1960-61 when the total number of training
institutions for elementary teachers in the country was 1,139 and
their enrolment stood only at 122,770. Even at the end of the

A PERSPECTIVE PLAN

97

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Table V

TOTAL ENROLMENT NEEDED IN TRAINING INSTITUTIONS

(1966-76)

(/« thousands)

Assumption with regard to targets Enrolment needed in training institutions on

the assumption of a pupil-teacher ratio of

55

40

45

50

I. 100 per cent enrolment in 6-11
age-group and 50 per cent in
11-14 age-group

447

358

291

2,236

II. 100 per cent enrolment in 6-11
age-group and 75 per cent in
11-14 age-group

516

420

344

284

III. 100 per cent enrolment in 6-11
age-group and 100 per cent in
11-14 age-group

587

480

398

333

Third Five Year Plan, their number will be only about 1,300 with
an enrolment of 150,000.

There are three ways to step up the enrolment of training institu-
tions : (1) to open new training institutions ; (2) to increase the
capacity of existing training institutions; and (3) to try out a suitable
combination of (1) and (2).

The study-group on teacher training has recommended that (1)
each State should decide the optimum size of a training institution
(this would be somewhere between 150 to 200), (2) increase the
capacity of each small institution to the optimum size, (3) establish
the necessary number of new institutions after the expansion due to
(2) is first ascertained, and (4) plan the location of all training
institutions in such a manner that about 80 per cent of them are
located in the rural areas, that each district (which should be taken
as a unit in this case) should have an adequate number of training
institutions to meet the needs of all its schools and that they should
be located in such a way as to be easily accessible from all parts of
the district. The study-group has further recommended that each
State should prepare a definite programme for the expansion and

98

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN INDIA

A PERSPECTIVE PLAN

99

improvement of training facilities for elementary teachers before
the end of 1963-64, and that the implementation of this programme
should start in the last two years of the Third Five Year Plan itself.
Since the preparation of teachers is the most important condition
precedent for the success of a programme of elementary education,
this scheme of expanding and improving teacher training facilities
will have to be given a high priority, and will have to be implement-
ed fully during the next 3-5 years.

Buildings and Equipment. The improvement of teachers is no
doubt the single most important factor in the qualitative improve-
ment of elementary education which would have to be emphasized
in the Fourth and the Fifth Five Year Plan. But a mere improvement
of teachers is not enough. It has to be supplemented by three other
programmes: (1) the provision of adequate buildings and equip-
ment for all elementary schools; (2) the provision of ancillary
services such as school health, school meals, free supply of text-
books, writing materials and school uniforms ; and (3) the provision
of an adequate and competent supervisory service.

The programme of providing school buildings (inclusive of
quarters for teachers, wherever necessary and possible) and equip-
ment to all elementary schools will involve a very large financial
outlay. At the end of the Third Five Year Plan, the total enrolment
in elementary schools would reach about 60 million and out of these,
only about 40 per cent is estimated to have been provided with
satisfactory buildings and adequate equipment. Steps will, therefore,
have to be taken to provide buildings and equipment to about 36
million children out of those already enrolled in schools by the end
of the Third Five Year Plan. In addition, buildings and equipment
on a similar scale would have to be provided for all the new children
who would be enrolled during the Fourth and the Fifth Five Year
Plans. Assuming that this new enrolment would be of the order of
4 million a year, buildings and equipment will have to be provided
for a total of 76 million children during the Fourth and the Fifth
Five Year Plan or roughly at the rate of about 7.6 million children
per year. Assuming that the cost of buildings is Rs. 75 per pupil
and that equipment is Rs. 50 per pupil, the total outlay required
for this programme alone would be Rs. 9,500 million during the
Fourth and the Fifth Five Year Plan or Rs. 950 million per
year.

The cost of buildings and equipment assumed in these estimates
is not very high. In fact, in several parts of the country, the actual
cost for providing equipment and buildings to elementary schools
is much higher than the assumptions made here. It is, however, felt
that it should be possible to organise research in the better planning
of school buildings and equipment, and to make use of available
local materials to reduce the cost of this programme and to bring it
within the assumptions stated earlier.

Ancillary Services. At present, there is hardly any provision for
school health services, except in a few urban areas. One of the
major programmes for improving the health of the school child and
thereby the standards of instruction in elementary schools is to
provide an efficient health service to all the children.' A beginning in
this direction may be made with the age-group 6-11 ; but ultimately
the services will have to be extended to all children in the age-
group 6-14.

A programme of school meals is the second important ancillary
service that will have to be organised for improving the health of the
school child. By the end of the Third Plan, about 10 million children
are proposed to be brought under this programme. It is, however,
necessary to expand the programme intensively during the Fourth
and the Fifth Five Year Plan and to provide nutritious and balanced
school meal to every child attending elementary school by 1975-76.

The third important ancillary service is ’to provide free text-books
and writing materials to all children attending elementary schools.
In addition, provision will also have to be made to see that all child-
ren in elementary schools use the prescribed school uniform and
that, for this purpose, the necessary assistance is made available to
the children of poor parents. These two programmes wouldSaot be
so costly as the programmes of providing health services and noon
meals; but taken together, they will assist materially in improving
the standard of instruction in elementary schools.

Improving Supervision. The third important programme for
qualitative improvement of elementary education is to provide an
adequate and competent supervisory service. At present, the total
work load on a supervisory officer of elementary schools is very
eavy. This has to be reduced so that he may be able to devote more
time to working with teachers and guiding them to improve instruc-
tion, 'and for this purpose it will be necessary to increase the number

100

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN INDIA

of supervisory officers. Perhaps, it may also be necessary to separate
certain administrative functions which are now performed by the
supervising agency and to entrust them to another agency specially
created for the purpose. Steps will also have to be taken to improve
the remuneration of supervisory staff to attract a better type of
persons to the profession and to provide them regular institution-
alised programmes of in-service education with a view to improving
their competence.

Educational research will also have to be developed in all sectors
of elementary education and particularly in respect of curriculum
and teaching methods. Special problems, such as the single-teacher
schools, would also have to be studied with a view to improving their
working. For this purpose, special institutions would have to be set
up in each State for the development of research in elementary
education and also to assist universities, training colleges and volun-
tary organisations to develop a programme of research in all pro-
blems of elementary education.

Financial Implications. It is necessary to realise the financial
implications of these proposals of qualitative improvement.

(/) Teacher Costs. From this point of view, a number of
suggestions have been put forward and they may be summarized
broadly as in the following table:

Table V-A

PROPOSED SALARIES OF TEACHERS

All these proposals are made on the basis of the 1960-61 prices.
They will have to be suitably modified, from time to time, in keeping
with the rise in prices or cost of living.

A PERSPECTIVE PLAN

101

It will be seen that the first of these four proposals suggests an in-
crease of about two-thirds in the average remuneration of elementary
teachers. The national dividend in 1960-61 was about Rs. 330 and
is expected to rise to Rs. 500 (at constant prices) by 1975-76. The
basic assumption of this proposal, therefore, is that the salaries of
elementary teachers should rise in keeping with the growth in the
national dividend of the country. On the other hand, proposal IV
suggests that the average salary of the elementary teachers should be
doubled during this period of fifteen years. The underlying assump-
tion is that the salaries of elementary teachers are low at present
and that they will have to be increased at a rate faster than that of
the national dividend if justice is to be given to the elementary
teachers. Proposals II and III hold intermediary positions between
these two extremes.

in) Non-teacher Costs. The second important implication of
the above proposals is that, in spite of this proposed increase in
salaries of teachers the non-teacher costs of education will also
increase considerably during the Fourth and Fifth Five Year Plans

t figUrCS aS Wel1 as in their relation t0 teacher costs,

in 1950-51, the ratio of teacher costs to non-teacher costs in the
total direct expenditure on elementary education was 80:20. During
t e next ten years, the proportion of non-teacher costs gradually
declined and at the end of the Second Plan it was estimated that
tne ratio of teacher costs to non- teacher costs would be 88:12. The
physical facilities provided in elementary schools, low as they were
even in 1950-51, have obviously declined still further during thfc
first two Plans and owing to pressure of expansion the average
elementary school is almost equivalent to the mere provision of a
teacher at present. If ancillary services are to be developed on the
lines indicated earlier it is obvious that in spite of the increase in
the salaries of teachers the proportionate share of the non-teacher
costs m the total direct expenditure on elementary education would
still greatly increase. The ideal target to be reached in this respect
would be a ratio of 50:50 between teacher and non-teacher costs
® ut as a “ alte ™ative, two other ratios may also be considered-
60:40 and 70:30. It will obviously not be possible to allow the
proportion of teacher costs and non-teacher costs to fall below
70:30 without adversely affecting the quality of elementary

102

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN INDIA

A PERSPECTIVE PLAN

103

(Hi) Teacher Training. At present, the cost of teacher training
is roughly about 3.5 per cent of the total direct expenditure on ele-
mentary education^ If the training facilities are to be expanded and
improved, as indicated earlier, it is estimated that this expenditure
will have to rise to at least 5 per cent on the total direct expenditure
on elementary education.

O'v) Supervision. If the supervising machinery is to be strengthen-
ed and improved, as indicated earlier, and if research in the problems
of elementary education is to be extensively developed, it will be
necessary to increase the total expenditure on direction and inspec-
tion also. At present the total expenditure on this head is about 2.5
per cent of the total direct expenditure on elementary education. It
is felt that this will have to be increased to at least 5 per cent during
the Fourth and Fifth Five Year Plans.

(v) Capital Costs. At present, the capital expenditure incurred
on elementary education is very low. In order to provide elementary
schools with adequate buildings and equipment, it is very necessary
to provide large outlays during the Fourth and Fifth Five Year
Plans. The minimum amount required may be Rs. 75 per pupil on
account of buildings and Rs. 50 per pupil on account of equipment,
and the optimum amount may be Rs. 100 per pupil on account of
buildings and Rs. 100 per pupil on account of equipment.

Estimate of Funds Required : The Need-based Approach. If the
targets of expansion, as suggested earlier, are to be reached and if a
programme of qualitative improvement of elementary education on
the lines indicated above is also to be implemented simultaneously,
it is obvious that the total expenditure on elementary education
will increase considerably. It is, therefore, necessary to make a
rough estimate of the financial outlay that would be needed to put
across the programmes suggested above.

There are two ways in which this can be done. In the first
of the need-based approach, an attempt is made to determine the
programme demanded by the people and the total financial outlay
required for its implementation is calculated. In the second or the
resources-based approach, an attempt is first made to estimate the
financial resources that are likely to be available for a programme of
elementary education and then the outline of the best programme
that could be put across within the inescapable financial limitations
is prepared. It is obvious that the implications of the programme

and its priorities can be understood better if both these exercises
are attempted and balanced against each other.

The total cost of a programme of free and compulsory education
as it is generally demanded by the people is very high. A rough
indication of this may be had from the following calculations.

I. Recurring Cost

(a) Teacher Costs. The general consensus is that the minimum
salary of an elementary school teacher should be Rs. 100 per month.
The maximum is placed varyingly at Rs. 200, Rs. 250 or even
Rs. 300. The average salary of the type of the scale which is
generally proposed at present would be about Rs. 150 per month or
Rs. 1,800 per year. To this, we will have to add about 10 per
cent for costs on account of old age provision and welfare services.
It may therefore, be safely assumed that, under the existing popular
proposals, the average cost on account of a teacher would be
Rs. 2,000 per year. The commonly accepted pupil-teacher ratio is
40:1. Hence the recurring teacher cost of elementary education
would be Rs. 50 per pupil.

( b ) Cost on Account of Other Items. To this, we will have to add
the recurring cost per pupil on account of other items. These would
include the following:

Annual cost

Items of expenditure per pupk

Rs.'

. ■ — r — t .....

School health (including school meals) for all children 30

School uniforms (given free to about 20 per cent of the children) 5
Supply of free text-books and writing materials and other costs
and contingencies. 10

Total 50

(c) Total Recurring Costs. It will thus be seen that the total direct
cost per pupil would come to Rs. 100. To this, we will have to add
5 per cent on account of the direct costs of teacher education and
another 5 per cent on account of supervision. The total recurring
cost of elementary education would thus come to Rs. 110 per pupil.

104

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN INDIA

II. Non-Recurring Cost

The cost of one class-room of a primary, middle or basic school
varies considerably. In cities and towns, it may be as high as
Rs. 6,000 to Rs. 10,000 per class-room (exclusive of land) and may
go up to Rs. 8,000 and to Rs. 18,000 inclusive of land and equip-
ment. In villages, the cost is considerably lower. The land is almost
free and the construction cost of the building is about Rs. 3,000 to
Rs. 4,000 per class-room. For the country as a whole, the capital
cost on account of buildings is generally assumed at Rs. 100 per
pupil. Similarly, the cost on account of equipment also is assumed
at Rs. 100 per pupil. This includes furniture, teaching aids, library
and craft materials. On these assumptions, a sum of Rs. 200 per
child per year would be needed for non-recurring expenditure. As
has been stated earlier provision will have to be made for this
non-recurring expenditure for about 36 million children out of those
who would be already enrolled by the end of the Third Five Year
Plan and for all the additional children proposed to be enrolled
during the Fourth and Fifth Five Year Plans.

III. Total Cost— Recurring and Non-Recurring

Table VI shows the total cost of this programme on the three
assumptions made earlier.

The most popular demand is that free and universal education
should be provided for all children in the age-group '6-14 by 1975-76
at the latest. It, therefore, follows that if the popular demand is to
be implemented, the total expenditure on the programme of elemen-
tary education which stood at about Rs. 1,200 million (or 0.8 per
cent of the national income) in 1960-61 would have to be increased
to Rs. 15,120 million (or 4.3 per cent of the national income) by
1975-76. This is almost an impossible demand.

The Resources-based Approach : Funds likely to be Obtained for
Elementary Education. Let us now turn to the second or the
resources-based approach to the planning of elementary education.
Here, we do not first determine what the programme of elementary
education would be and then determine its cost; on the other hand,
we ask the following questions. What is the amount likely to be
available by 1975-76 for the recurring and capital expenditure on

TOTAL COST (RECURRING AND NON-RECURRING) OF A PROGRAMME OF FREE AND
COMPULSORY EDUCATION FOR ALL CHILDREN IN THE AGE-GROUP 6-14

106

A PERSPECTIVE PLAN

107

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN INDIA

elementary education? What is the best programme that can be put
across within this amount?

In order to answer these questions properly, it will be necessary to
raise two other related issues, (a) What proportion of its national
income should India spend on education in general? ( b ) What
proportion of this total educational expenditure should be devoted
to the provision of free and compulsory education for all children
in the age-group 6-14?

With regard to the first of these issues, it may be pointed out that
India today spends only about 2.3 per cent of her national income on
education as a whole. This is much lower than what many count-
ries of the world are spending. In this respect, we may divide the
countries of the world into three categories. In the first category
come those countries which spend more than 5 per cent of their
national income on education : Japan, for instance, spends 6 per cent
of its national income on education. In the second category come
those countries which spend about 3-5 per cent of their national in-
come on education: England, for instance, spends 4.5 per cent of
its national income on education. In the third category come most
of the developing countries of the world which generally spend less
than 3 per cent of their national income on education; and it is in
this category that India falls. What we can hope for is that the
country should spend 6 per cent of its national income on education.
Nothing could be better.

One more assumption is needed to determine the funds likely to
be available for education as a whole by 1975-76, viz. the rate of
increase in national income itself. The paper on Perspective Plan-
ning in India prepared by the Planning Commission suggests that
we should attempt an annual increase of 7 per cent in the national
income. There are several persons who think that this rate of
growth is not feasible. But even assuming that it becomes possible,
the total national income in India would rise only to Rs. 3,730
billion by 1975-76 or Rs. 600 per head of population. The total
educational expenditure in 1975-76 would, therefore, vary between
Rs. 18,650 million (5 per cent of the national income) and
Rs. 22,380 million (6 per cent of the national income).

With regard to the second question, Table VII shows that the
proportion of the total direct expenditure on elementary education

in India has varied from 39.4 per cent in 1951-52 to 35.0
per cent in 1959-60.

Table VII

PROPORTION OF TOTAL DIRECT EXPENDITURE ON ELEMEN-
TARY EDUCATION TO TOTAL EDUCATIONAL EXPENDITURE

(1949-50 to 1960-61)

Total direct expenditure on

Percentage of total direct ex -

Year

elementary education

penditure on elementary edu -

(in millions of

cation to total educational

rupees)

expenditure

1949-50

401

39.3

1950-51

441

38.6

1951-52

491

39.4

1952-53

538

39.1

1953-54

568

38.4

1954-55

624

37.8

1955-56

691

36.5

1956-57

756

36.7

1957-58

875

36.4

1958-59

984

35.8

1959-60

1,099

35.0

1960-61

1,196

35.3

Assuming that, with some modifications, this proportion would
continue to operate during the next ten years or so, it appears that
the total funds available for elementary education by 1^75-76 would
vary between Rs. 6,300 million to Rs. 7,900 million.

Cost per Pupil Assuming that the total amount likely to be
available for the development of elementary education would vary
between Rs. 6,300 million and Rs. 7,900 million by 1975-76, we
may have to set aside about 10 per cent of this amount for capital
expenditure. The total amount available for recurring expenditure
would thus vary between Rs. 5,700 million and Rs. 7,100 million.
As the number of children to be enrolled varies between 100 million
and ,120 million depending upon the target adopted, we would be
able to afford a cost per pupil which would vary between Rs. 47.5

108

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN INDIA

A PERSPECTIVE PLAN

109

per pupil per year (on the assumption that the amount available for
recurring expenditure on elementary education would be the least,
that is, Rs. 5,700 million and the number of children to be enrolled
would be the highest, that is, 120 million) and Rs. 71 per pupil per
year (on the assumption that the funds available for recurring expen-
diture would be the highest, that is, Rs. 7,100 million and the target
of enrolment would be the lowest, that is, 100 million). The different
costs per pupil that could be possible between these two extreme
limits are shown in the following table:

Table VIII

COST PER PUPIL (1975-76)

Target

Total Total amount

number of likely to be
children to available for
be enrolled recurring

(in millions ) expenditure on
elementary
education

(in millions of rupees)

Cost

per

pupil

Rs.

(0

(2)

(2)

00

100 per cent enrolment in the age-
group 6-11 and 100 per cent enrolment
in the age-group 11-14

120

5,700

47.5

100 per cent enrolment in the age-
group 6-11 and 75 per cent enrolment
in the age-group 11-14

110

5,700

51.9

100 per cent enrolment in the age-
group 6-11 and 50 per cent enrolment
in the age-group 11-14

100

5,700

57.0

100 per cent enrolment in the age-
group 6-1 1 and 100 per cent enrolment
in the age-group 11-14

120

7,100

59.1

100 per cent enrolment in the age-
group 6-1 1 and 75 per cent enrolment
in the age-group 11-14

110

7,100

64.5

100 per cent enrolment in the age-

100

7,100

71.0

group 6-11 and 50 per cent enrolment ,
in the age-group 11-14

The cost per pupil in elementary schools at the end of the
Second Five Year Plan was about Rs. 30. Table VIII shows that

it is possible, depending upon the target adopted and the funds
available, to raise this cost from Rs. 30 to any amount between
Rs. 47.5 and Rs. 71.0. These are, by no means, very ambitious
assumptions. In fact, judged by the standard recommended by
the Karachi Plan, which assumed a cost per pupil of Rs. 100 to be
reached by 1980, these may be said to be on the low side.

(Cost per Pupil in Relation to Average Salary of Teachers— Pupil-
teacher Ratio and Non-teacher Costs . Three important questions
arise in this context. Given a certain cost per pupil, (1) what
average annual salary can be given to the teachers, (2) what
pupil-teacher ratio can be adopted, and (3) what would be the
proportion between the teacher costs and non-teacher costs ? In
order to answer these questions, it is necessary to connect the cost
per pupil with the other three variables involved. This has been
done below.

Let n be the number of children to be educated ;
x be the cost per pupil ;
a be the average annual salary of a teacher ;
t be the pupil-teacher ratio ; and

r be the ratio of teacher costs to total direct expenditure on
elementary education.

Then, the number of teachers required is njt. Since the average
annual salary of a teacher is a, the total cost on account of a
teacher is 11 a/10, adding 10 per cent on account of old age
provision and welfare services. The total teacher costs, therefore,
are 11 an/10/.

If these are n/100 of the total direct expenditure the latter is
equal to 110 anjrt. Adding 10 per cent for indirect expenditure on
teacher education and supervision, the Jj6tal recurring expenditure
becomes 121 anjrt (1)

But, since the cost per pupil is x , the total recurring expenditure
is also nx (2)

Equating (1) and (2),

x=\2\a!rt (3)

This formula connects four variables : a or the average annual
salary of an elementary teacher; x cost per pupil; r the ratio of
teacher costs to total direct expenditure on elementary education;

A PERSPECTIVE PLAN

111

and / the pupil teacher ratio. Given any three of these it is possible
to find out the fourth. For convenience of reference Table IX
has been complied to show all possible variations of a , r, and /,
for the six different values of x which were obtained in Table VIII.

A word of explanation may be given regarding the use of Table IX
which connects the cost per pupil with the average annual salary of
a teacher, the pupil-teacher ratio and proportion of the teacher costs
to non-teacher costs. For instance, when the cost per pupil is
Rs. 47.5 per year (column 1, first row), the pupil- teacher ratio is 35,
and the proportion of teacher costs to non-teacher costs is 50:50, the
average annual salary of the teacher would be Rs. 687 (column 4,
first row). Similarly when the cost per pupil per year is Rs. 71
(column 1 sixth row) the pupil-teacher ratio is 50 and the proportion
of teacher costs to non- teacher costs is 70:30, the average annual
salary of the teacher would be Rs. 2,054. In this way, all these
four variables could be connected with each other.

It will be seen from Table IX that the average annual salary
of teachers can vary from Rs. 687, which is calculated on the lowest
cost per pupil (47.5), the lowest pupil-teacher ratio (35) and the
highest proportion of non-teacher costs (50 per cent), to Rs. 2,054,
which is calculated on the basis of the highest costs per pupil (Rs. 71),
the highest pupil-teacher ratio (50), and the lowest proportion of
non-teacher costs (30 per cent). It was suggested earlier that the
limits within which the salary of the elementary teacher may be
made to vary by 1975-76 would be Rs. 1,500 to Rs. 1,800. Within
these limits, the following options are available to us.

(0 For average annual salaries between Rs. 1,400 and 1,499. If
we adopted a cost per pupil of Rs. 71, a pupil- teacher ratio of 35
and non-teacher costs at 30 per cent, the average annual salary of
Rs. 1,438 can be given.

If we adopt a cost per pupil of Rs. 64.5, a pupil-teacher ratio of
40, and non-teacher costs at 30 per cent, an average annual salary
of Rs. 1,493 can be given. .

If we adopt a cost per pupillof Rs. 71, a pupil-teacher ratio of 40
and non-teacher costs at 40 per cent, an average annual salary of
Rs. 1,408 can be given.

If we adopt a cost per pupil of Rs. 57, a pupil-teacher ratio of 45,
and non-teacher costs at 30 per cent, an average annual salary of
Rs. 1,484 can be given.

112

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN INDIA

A PERSPECTIVE PLAN

113

If we adopt a cost per pupil of Rs. 64.5, a pupil-teacher ratio of
45 and non-teacher costs at 40 per cent, an average annual
salary of Rs. 1,439 can be given.

If we adopt a cost per pupil of Rs. 57, a pupil-teacher ratio of 50,
and non-teacher costs at 40 per cent an average annual salary of
Rs. 1,413 can be given.

If we adopt a cost per pupil of Rs. 59.1, a pupil-teacher ratio of
50 and non-teacher costs at 40 per cent, an average annual
salary of Rs. 1,465 can be given.

If we adopt a cost per pupil of Rs. 71, a pupil-teacher ratio of 50,
and non-teacher costs at 50 per cent, an average annual salary of
Rs. 1,467 can be given.

(ii) For average annual salaries between Rs. 1,500 and 1,599. If we
adopt a cost per pupil of Rs. 59.1, a pupil-teacher ratio of 45 and
non-teacher costs at 30 per cent, an average annual salary of
Rs. 1,539 can be given.

If we adopt a cost per pupil of Rs. 71, a pupil- teacher ratio of 45
and non-teacher costs at 40 per cent, an average annual salary of
Rs. 1,584 can be given.

If we adopt a cost per pupil of Rs. 51.9, a pupil-teacher ratio of
50 and non-teacher costs at 30 per cent, an average annual
salary of Rs. 1,501 can be given.

If we adopt a cost per pupil of Rs. 64.5, a pupil-teacher ratio of
50 and non-teacher costs at 40 per cent, an average annual
salary of Rs. 1,599 can be given.

(Hi) For average annual salaries between Rs. 1,600 and 1,699. If we
adopt a cost per pupil of Rs. 71, a pupil-teacher ratio of 40 and non-
teacher costs at 30 per cent, an average annual salary of Rs. 1,643
can be given.

If we adopt a cost per pupil of Rs. 64.5, a pupil-teacher ratio of 45
and non-teacher costs at 30 per cent, an average annual salary of
Rs. 1,679 can be given.

If we adopt a cost per pupil of Rs. 57, a pupil-teacher ratio of 50
and non-teacher costs at 30 per cent, an average annual salary of
Rs. 1,649 can be given.

(iv) For average annual salaries between Rs. 1,700 and 1,799. If
we adopt a cost per pupil of Rs. 59.1, a pupil-teacher ratio of 50, and
non-teacher costs at 30 per cent, an average annual salary of
Rs* 1,710 can be given.

If we adopt a cost per pupil of Rs. 71, a pupil-teacher ratio
of 50, and non-teacher costs at 40 per cent, an average annual
salary of Rs. 1,760 can be given.

(v) For average annual salaries of Rs. 1,800 and abo ve. If we adopt
a cost per pupil of Rs. 71, a pupil-teacher ratio of 45 and non-teacher
costs at 30 per cent, an average annual salary of Rs. 1,848 can be
given.

If we adopt a cost per pupil of Rs. 64.5, a pupil-teacher ratio of 50
and non-teacher costs at 30 per cent, an average annual salary of
Rs. 1,866 can given.

If we adopt a cost per pupil of Rs. 71, a pupil-teacher ratio of 50
and non-teacher costs at 30 per cent, an average annual salary of
Rs. 2,054 can be given.

It will thus be seen that a pupil-teacher ratio of 35 is practically
ruled out if we want to give a decent wage to elementary school
teachers. The pupil-teacher ratio will have to be increased to 45 at
least and perhaps to 50. This is possible if the double shift could
be introduced in classes I and II.

It also appears that it may not be possible for us to allow non-
teacher costs to go beyond 30 per cent of the total direct expenditure
on elementary education. This will imply that we may not be ^ble to
provide school meals to more than 30 per cent of the children. The
facilities regarding school health services may also have to be
curtailed. The provision of free text-books and writing materials
can, however, be provided to all and the supply of free uniforms may
have to be restricted to 20 per cent of the total enrolment.

Main Issues for Decision. From the foregoing discussion, it would
be evident that decisions would have to be taken on the following
points as a preliminary step towards the preparation of a perspective
plan for the development of elementary education between 1961
and 1975.

(1) What should be the target for enrolment to be reached by
1975? In particular, which of the following assumptions may be
made for the enrolment target in 1975? (a) by 1975, we would
enrol 100 per cent of ttte children in the age-group 6-11 and 50 per
cent of the children in^the age-group 11-14; (b) by 1975, we would
enrol 100 per cent of the children in the age-group 6-11 and 75 per
cent of the children in the age-group 11-14; and (c) by 1975, we
should enrol 100 per cent of the children in the age-group 6-14. *

114

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN INDIA

A PERSPECTIVE PLAN

115

(2) What should be the policy in respect of the average remunera-
tion of elementary school teachers? In particular, which of the
following broad scales of average salaries should be adopted as the
basis for preparing estimates of costs?

AVERAGE ANNUAL SALARY OF ELEMENTARY TEACHERS

Assumption

1961

Rs.

1966

Rs.

1971

Rs.

1976

Rs.

I.

900

1,000

1,300

1,500

II.

900

1,100

1,400

1,600

III.

900

1,200

1,500

1,700

IV.

900

1,300

1,600

1,800

(3) What should be the policy regarding pupil-teacher ratio?
What would be the reasonable pupil-teacher ratio to be reached by
1975 — 35, 40, 45 or 50?

(4) What should be the policy in prescribing minimum qualifi-
cations in general education for elementary school teachers?

(5) What should be the policy adopted for expanding and
improving the professional training of elementary school teachers,
and what financial provision should be made for the purpose ?

(6) What should be the policy regarding increasing expenditure
on items other than teacher costs in elementary education by (i)
providing contingent expenditure to elementary schools on a larger
scale, and (ii) by introducing ancillary services such as school health
(including school meals), provision of uniforms and free supply of
text-books and writing materials ? In particular, what should be the
percentage of teacher costs to total direct expenditure on elementary
education ?

(7) What should be the policy regarding improvement of direc-
tion, administration and supervision, and on what scale should
expenditure be provided for the purpose in the estimate of costs ?

(8) What proportion of the national income could reasonably
be expected to be devoted to education as a whole by 1975?

(9) What proportion of the total educational expenditure should
be devoted to elementary education by 1975? How should this
expenditure be divided between recurring and capital costs?

(10) Of the total financial resources available for elementary
education, how much should be allocated to (0 teacher costs; (»)

direct expenditure on items other than teacher costs; (Hi) indirect
expenditure on direction, administration and supervision; (/v) in-
direct expenditure on teacher training; and (v) capital costs?

(11) What should be the reasonable cost per pupil to be reached
by 1975? How would the average remuneration of elementary
school teachers, pupil-teacher ratio and the percentage of teacher
costs to total direct expenditure on elementary education be related
thereto ?

It is suggested that these important problems should be discussed
and decided at a very high level. It would be desirable to take
decisions for the country as a whole; though it is not absolutely
necessary to do so. On each of the issues raised here, it would be
open to the States to take different decisions in keeping with their
own local conditions. But all variations thus introduced should
be within the broad limits set by the Government of India.

Some Important Administrative Problems . We have discussed
so far the main financial problems involved in the development of
elementary education, namely, the total financial outlay required
for a good programme of elementary education, the funds likely
to be available for it in the near future, the manner in which they
could be best utilised and the fixation of priorities. We shall now
turn to the consideration of some of the important administrative
matters involved in the programme. These are: (/) the
preparation of separate plans for the development of elementary
education in each State; (ii) the equalisation of educational oppor-
tunities as between one State and another, and, in particular, the
grant of special financial assistance to the less advanced States for
reaching the goal of universal education; (iii) the determination
of the proper role of the Central and State Governments, local bodies
and voluntary organisations in the planning and implementation of
the programme; and, in particular, the problem of democratic
decentralisation with reference to the transfer of the administra-
tion of elementary education to the local bodies at various levels;
and (/v) the passing of the essential legislation for compulsory
education and enforcement of compulsory attendance. These
would be briefly discussed in the following paragraphs.

Preparation of State Plans . What has been indicated in the fore-
going discussions is a broad outline of the perspectives of the deve-
lopment of elementary education in India as a whole and points at

116

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN INDIA

A perspective plan

117

planning decisions that would be required. Conditions, however,
vary so greatly from State to State that a nation-wide plan acquires
relevance only when it is integrated with the plans at the State level
where the responsibility for implementation rests. It is, therefore,
necessary for each State to prepare its own perspective plan for the
development of elementary education between 1965-66 and 1975-76
against the background of a general plan of socio-economic
development in the State and also of educational developments in all
sectors.

It is, therefore, suggested that, during 1963-64, each State should
prepare its own perspective plan for the development of elementary
education between 1965-66 and 1975-76. An all-India plan for the
development of elementary education should then be prepared on
the basis of these State Plans. In the light of the national plan
thus finalised and approved by appropriate authorities, the State
Governments should prepare during 1965-66 their fourth five-year
plans for the development of elementary education.

In preparing the State plans for the development of elementary
education, one point has to be emphasized. A programme of uni-
versal education is essentially a programme of equalising educa-
tional opportunities, irrespective of caste, race, religion, sex or even
the place of residence. At present, a perfect equality of educational
opportunity does not obtain in any State. Some districts are more
advanced than others ; the urban areas, as a rule, are more advanced
than the rural ones; some classes in society take better advantage
of educational facilities than others; and boys as a rule are better
educated than girls. All these inequalities will have to be eliminated
or reduced to a minimum in a programme of free and compulsory
education for all children in the age-group 6-14. Adequate provi-
sion for this will have to be made in the State plans for the develop-
ment of elementary education.

Equalisation of Educational Opportunities at State Level . A

well-planned programme for the development of elementary educa-
tion in a State would provide equality of educational opportunity to
all the children in the State and would eliminate any differences
that may exist now between one area and another. Similarly, a
national plan for the development of elementary education would
have to remove the existing inequalities in elementary education as
between one State and another. This can be done only if the

Federal Government takes an active interest in the development of
elementary education in every State and evolves a programme under
which each State is assisted to reach the goal in the shortest time
possible and necessary special assistance is provided to the less
advanced States.

APPENDIX HI

Financing of Elementary Education

in India*

The object of this paper is to suggest a new system for the financing
of elementary education in India, based on the principle of equali-
sation.

We selected this topic for several reasons. The first and foremost
is the significance of elementary education which is the one level
in which the entire population of the prescribed age-group is expect-
ed to participate. For a long time to come, this will also be the only
education which the vast majority of children in the country will
ever have. It can play a very significant role in unifying the people,
in increasing productivity and in creating a new social order. It
is also indispensable if equality of opportunity is to be fostered
and if equality of status is to be approached. Secondly, the provi-
sion of universal elementary education forms one of the directive
principles of State policy. Article 45 of the Constitution lays down
that the State shall endeavour to provide free and compulsory educa-
tion for all children until they complete fourteen years of age. No
other sector of education has been so singled out, and this indicates
the great significance which the framers of the Constitution attached
to elementary education for providing social justice and stabilising
democracy. Thirdly, the expenditure on elementary education
now forms about 35 per cent of the total educational expenditure.
As elementary education expands and is improved in quality, this
proportion will tend to increase and ultimately it is expected that the
expenditure on elementary education may form 50-60 per cent
of the total educational expenditure — a fact which testifies to the
relative priority and significance which attaches to this sector.
Finally, the problem of elementary education is also of importance

Paper p re p are< 3 i n consultation with Dr. E. S. Lawler, consultant in
Education Finance, Teachers College, Columbia University Contract Team
in India.

FINANCING OF ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN INDIA 119

because it is the “unfinished business” in education! Article 45 of
the Constitution directed that free and compulsory education till
the age of 14 was to be provided by 1960. This could not be done.
A revised programme was then prepared with the object of fulfilling
this constitutional directive by 1976. It will not be possible to
adhere even to this programme and the general thinking now is that
this goal may be reached by a few States in 1976, by some more
in 1981 and by the others in 1986 or 1991. There is a very strong
feeling in the country that the provision of universal elementary
education is extremely vital to the overall progress of the people and
that it will be disastrous to postpone this programme to so late a
date. Any attempt to bring the goal nearer will necessarily indicate
more attention being paid to the financial problems involved.

Another compelling reason for this choice was our considered
opinion that in no other sector of education are problems of finance
so vital as in elementary education. It is true that, even here, several
significant problems of curriculum making, teaching methods,
preparation of teachers, educating public opinion (especially in
relation to the education of girls), preparation of text-books,
teaching aids, etc. have still to be tackled; but these are compara-
tively easy of solution and they could also be more rapidly solved
if the major problem of securing the large finances required for pro-
vision of universal elementary education of a reasonable standard
could be tackled satisfactorily. The great importance of a study of
the financial aspects of elementary, education is thus obvious.

II

Basic Assumptions. For convenience of discussion, we would like
to state, at the very outset, some of the basic assumptions underlying
this paper. We realise that not everyone will accept all of them,
but we do not propose to discuss them in detail because they are a
little beside the main purpose of this study.

The first assumption is that the system of “multiple-source” financing
of elementary education , which has been developed in India so far ,
will also continue in the future . At present, we find that elementary
education is supported, to a varying extent, by the local commu-
nities or parents, by local authorities, by State Governments and
by the Federal Government. Such a system is fully justified*. The

120

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN INDIA

local community or parents are interested in elementary education
because their children are direct beneficiaries of the programme;
the local authorities have no greater responsibility, nor a greater
avenue for service than supporting and improving the elementary
schools within their areas; the State Government is constitutionally
responsible for the provision of elementary education to all child-
ren, and the Central Government has a responsibility to equalise
educational opportunities in all parts of the Union. The Consti-
tution also supports this view because it places the responsibility
for the provision of universal elementary education upon the “State”
which is defined, in Article 12, as inclusive of “the Government and
Parliament of India, and the Government and legislature of each
of the States, and of local or other authorities within the territory
of India or under the control of the Government of India.” We
may also add that an analysis of the history of educational finance
in India shows that a system of “multiple-source finance” is better
thap that of “single-source finance.” In boom periods, the multiple-
source system nets more revenues for elementary education than the
single-source system for the simple reason that the effort to raise
funds is made at several levels and through several different expe-
dients. In lean periods also, the multiple-source system has proved
to be better: it has a greater shock-absorbing capacity and the short-
falls in any one source are generally made up, to some extent at
lept, by increased efforts in other sources.

The second assumption is thatjhe elementary school teacher will
receive a much better deal in future than what has been given to him
m the past. The essence of educational improvement is an effi-
cient, devoted, satisfied, well-educated and adequately trained
elementary teacher ; and it is probably on this score that the program-
mes of elementary education in India are failing most. The first
and the most essential remedy is to provide a better remuneration
and a more satisfactory system of old age benefits, with the ulti-
mate objective of adopting a single scale of pay for all elementary
and secondary school teachers — a reform which has now been
adopted by almost all advanced countries. This will attract a much
better type of person to the profession and will also make it pos-
sible to raise the minimum qualifications required of elementary
teachers — they should all have completed the secondary school at
least and a fair proportion of them should be graduates. It will

Financing of elementary education in india 121

also be necessary to provide a minimum professional training of
two years to university graduates and to raise the standard of train-
ing institutions substantially. There is hardly any provision for in-
service training at present and early steps will have to be taken
to provide regular institutionalised in-service training of two to
three months to every elementary teacher in every five years of his
service. These programmes will obviously cause a considerable
increase in the cost due to teachers’ salaries and their training.
But there is no escape from the necessity of providing alf the funds
required for them. *

The third assumption is that attempts will also be made to provide
the essential ancillary services for students. This is the second weak-
est area in elementary education today. A vast majority of the
students attending elementary schools are under-nourished; they
are generally found to suffer from a number of illnesses which inter-
fere with their growth — physical and mental; they do not often have
adequate clothing; and many of them do not have the essential
books or writing materials. Unless steps are taken to provide school
meals, school uniforms, health services and free supplies of
text-books and reading materials, the standard of education
in elementary schools will not rise. The implication of these
programmes is that the non-teacher costs of elementary teacher
education (which come to only 11 per cent of the total direct
expenditure on elementary schools at present) will have to be
substantially increased.

The fourth assumption is that an elastic policy would be adopted
with reference to pupil-teacher ratios. The past tradition has been
to over-emphasize the pupil-teacher ratio and to keep the size of
the class small — to about 34 children on rolls or about 28 in average
attendance. At this stage of its socio-economic development,
we wonder whether India can afford to have such small classes.
They will inevitably result, as the past experience has shown, in
two unwelcome developments: (1) a low remuneration for teachers,
and (2) an inadequate expenditure on non-teacher costs or ancillary
services to childrep. Probably, a breakthrough can be made by
raising the pupil-teacher ratio so that, without an undue increase
in the overall expenditure, it would be possible to give a better
remuneration to teachers and also to provide ancillary services to
students on a fairly adequate scale. As the resources available

122 ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN INDIA

increase, the pupil- teacher ratio could be reduced. This sequence
of events happened in most countries where elementary education
has been expanded, and probably the adoption of a deliberate policy
on the same lines would help India best in expanding and improving
her programmes of elementary education.

Realising that this is a very controversial issue, we have decided
to base our studies on the cost per pupil which is our fifth assumption.
There is a close relationship between the cost per pupil and (1)
the average annual salary which could be paid to an elementary
teacher, (2) the pupil-teacher ratio, and (3) proportion of teacher
costs to the non-teacher costs (inclusive of ancillary services). We,
therefore, felt that the adoption of “cost per pupil” as a basis for the
policy of financing elementary education has the great advantage
of accommodating every point of view and leaving the State Gov-
ernments free to decide the remuneration of teachers, the pupil-
teacher patios and the extent to which ancillary services are to be
provided.’! If some States want to adopt a high pupil-teacher ratio
with a view to providing a better remuneration to teachers, they
would be free to do so as long as the cost per pupil remains
unchanged. On the other hand, if a State were to insist on a given
pupil-teacher ratio, it will still find it possible to work within the
given cost per pupil, either by reducing the remuneration of teachers
or by cutting down the extent of ancillary services.

Our sixth and final assumption has been that , in the next fifteen
years , a deliberate policy would be adopted to double the cost per
pupil in elementary education (at constant prices) and to provide
universal elementary education by 1981. The first part of this assum-
ption would be a fairly good indication of the qualitative improve-
ment which we visualise. The second part deals with the quanti-
tative point of view and suggests that the total enrolment in classes
I- VIII in 1981 would be about equal to the total population in the
age-group 6-14.

Before leaving this topic, we would like to make one point clear.
We have stated the above assumptions to explain the basis of the
calculations made in this paper. The principle of equalisation
which we advocate is, however, independent of them and will
hold good in spite of any changes that might be made in these
assumptions.

FINANCING OF ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN INDIA 123

III

Total Expenditure on Elementary Education in 1961 and 1981. Accord-
ing to the census of 1961, the total population of children in the
age-group 6-14 was 8,58,57,866 (for details, see Statistical Table I).
The total enrolment in classes I-VIII in the same year was 4,16,98,
630 or 48.6 per cent of the total population in the corresponding
age-group (for details, see Statistical Table II). The total direct ex-
penditure on elementary education in 1960-61 was Rs. 1,16,36,68,977
which works out roughly at Rs. 31.2 per pupil or Rs. 2.65 per head
of population, (for details, see Statistical Table III). In addition,
the total expenditure on the training of elementary teachers was
Rs. 3,46,14,498 which works out to Rs. 0.93 per pupil or Rs. 0.08
per head of population (for details, see Statistical Table IV). The
total expenditure on elementary education in 1961 was thus
Rs. 2.73 per head of population or Rs. 32.13 per pupil.

In 1981, the total population of India is estimated to rise to
700 million and the total population in the age-group 6-14 is
estimated to be about 140 million. We have assumed that the
enrolment in classes I-VIII would also be 140 million (equal to the
total population in the corresponding age-group) and that the cost
per pupil would rise to Rs. 70 (this would include about Rs. 65
for direct costs of elementary education and Rs. 5 for indirect
costs of teacher training). The total recurring expenditure on
elementary education in 1981 would, therefore, have to be about
Rs. 9,800 million.

A rough estimate can also be made of the non-recurring expen-
diture required for this programme. A very reasonable estimate
is to assume a non-recurring expenditure of Rs. 200 per child for
building and equipment (at 1960-61 prices). We may further assume
that these facilities would have to be provided, not only for ail
the new enrolment in the Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Plans (77 million)
but also for about 70 per cent of the enrolment at the end of the
Third Plan (63 million). In other words, non-recurring expenditure
* at R S . 200 per child would have to be provided for about 121 million
children. The total expenditure would thus be Rs. 24,200 million
spread over 15 years or Rs. 1,614 million per annum. There are
some educationists who think that this estimate is on the high side
and they would prefer to assume an expenditure of about its. 100

124

elementary EDUCATION in INDIA

of r abo!i d t R E :r n tY lv conservative assumption, an expenditure
of about Rs. 700 million per annum would be needed for non-

years" 118 eXpendltUre on elemellt ary education during the next 15

m m h th ® r ± re> a minimum expenditure of about Rs. 10,500
million (Rs. 9,800 million recurring and Rs. 700 million non-
recurring) would be needed for elementary education which works
out at about Rs. 15 per head of the population. This would roughly

. a o^ 1 0l ;^ tI ’ lrd , of , the total educational expenditure in 1981.
In 1960-61, the total educational expenditure was Rs. 3,441 million
or Rs 7.7 per head of population. Since Independence, the total
educational expenditure in India is increasing annually at about
11.65 per cent (compound interest law). In view of the large-scale
expansion and qualitative improvement proposed to be brought
about, the rate of increase of total educational expenditure during
the next three Plans would have to be even higher. But even assum-

!n 8 mn *, C ° nti T? l ° b£ tbC Same ’ the total educational expenditure
in 1980-81 would be Rs. 31,500 million in which case the above

expenditure on elementary education would be about a third of
the total educational expenditure.

Whether it would be possible to raise the total expenditure on
elementary education from Rs. 2.66 per head of population in 1961
(or 0.8 per cent of the National Dividend of Rs. 330) to Rs. 15 (or

ab ° 1 l?w Per CCllt ° f the est *mated National Dividend of Rs. 750
m 1981) it is not for us to say. We would, however, emphasize
two points: (1) the expenditure indicated by us above, at constant
prices, is probably the minimum needed if India is to have a fairly
satisfactory system of elementary education; and (2) the problems
of elementary education in India cannot be solved unless twb other
basic problems are satisfactorily tackled simultaneously, viz. (a)
reduction of the birth-rate which will reduce the number of children
to be provided with educational facilities, and (b) rapid economic
development which will increase the National Dividend and the
capacity of the average citizen to support a more satisfying
programme of education. *

^ r ° blemS ° f filing of elementary education can be
divided into two broad categories. The first category includes
problems leading to the determination of the total number of
children to be educated, the cost per pupil and the total amount

FINANCING OF ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN INDIA 125

required for financing a given programme of elementary education^
and (the second includes problems of the manner in which
agencies at different levels— Central, State, local and community —
can be harnessed to provide financial resources for the support
of elementary schools and the manner in which grants-in-aid for
elementary education could be given by an agency at a higher level
to one at a lower level. In this paper, we are not directly concerned
with the problems included in the first category and we need make
no more detailed examination of the problems involved than what
has been stated in this section. We would, however, like to con-
centrate upon the problems involved in the second category: (a)
the manner in which the total expenditure on elementary education
would be shared by the Central, State and local Governments
and the local communities; and (b) the manner in which grants-
in-aid could be provided by the Centre to the States, by the States
to the local bodies and by the States or local bodies to the local
communities.

IV

Central Grants to States on Account of Elementary Education.
To begin with, let us first discuss the problem of Central grants to
State Governments for elementary education.

At present. Central grants to State Governments for all educa-
tional purposes are given for developmental programmes only,
i.e. for programmes included in the five-year plans. These grants
are, therefore, available only for a period of five years at a time.
At the end of the Plan period, the level of recurring expenditure
reached on education is treated as “committed” and does not
receive any grant-in-aid from the Centre, just as there is no grant-
in-aid for the “committed” expenditure at the beginning of the Plan
period. It is true that the Finance Commission proposes, every
five years. Central grants to State Governments to enable them to
balance their budgets on account of committed expenditure. But
these grants are not generally earmarked. For all practical purposes
therefore, it may be said that Central grants to education in gene-
ral (and, therefore, for elementary education also) are given for deve-
lopmental expenditure only and that the committed expenditure
on account pf these programmes is not specifically assisted.

126

127

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN INDIA

This method of grant-in-aid has one great defect. In elementary
education, the recurring committed expenditure is far greater than
the developmental expenditure. At the end of each Plan, the recurr-
ing committed expenditure of the States on account of elementary
education increases very considerably, thereby making it more
difficult for the State Governments to raise the resources required
for new developmental expenditure. At the end of the Third Plan,
the committed expenditure of the States on account of elementary
education would be so heavy that they would not be in a position
to meet it unless very substantial grants-in-aid are given. Their
capacity to make further efforts for the development of elementary
education will, therefore, be extremely limited and the situation
will get worse as each Plan is completed. Some States have already
begun to refuse hundred per cent developmental grants from the
Centre on the ground that they would not be able to raise the funds
needed for the committed expenditure involved. This attitude
will become more general as time passes. In our opinion, there-
fore, a stage has now been reached when the old policy of giving
grants-in-aid for developmental programmes only has outlived
its utility and no worth while progress on that basis now seems
possible. We, therefore , strongly recommend that this policy should
be given up and replaced by another under which Central grants to
State Governments would be given for all expenditure on elementary
education — committed as well as developmental , recurring as well
as non-recurring. It is this policy alone which will bring about a
rapid expansion of elementary education which everyone in the
country desires.

This recommendation involves another. In the First Plan, Central
grants-in-aid were given for individual schemes of educational
development. In practice, the system became extremely complex
for three reasons: (1) the number of schemes which earned Central
assistance was very large; (2) the rate of Central grant-in-aid varied
from scheme to scheme; (3) even in the same scheme, the rate of
grant-in-aid varied sometimes from non-recurring to recurring ex-
penditure. Gradually, this complexity was eliminated by abolish-
ing the grants for individual schemes and by instituting cumulative
grant-in-aid for four sectors — elementary education, secondary
education, higher education and other educational programmes.
Even this method was found to lead to complications and, in the

FINANCING OF ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN INDIA

Third Five Year Plan, grants have been given for the Plan as a whole/i
The recommendation made above implies a reversal of this process
and the institution of a special grant-in-aid for elementary educa-
tion. This step is necessary for several reasons. In the first place,
it has been found that the cause of education as a whole, and of
elementary education in particular, suffers heavily in the present
system of a block grant for the Plan as a whole because it is very
difficult to get adequate priorities for education (or elementary
education) at the State level. Secondly, elementary education,
as pointed out above, is the single most important programme
in education which has been isolated by the Constitution for special
emphasis. It would, therefore, be in the fitness of things to ear-
mark a special grant for elementary education, if not for any other
sector. Thirdly, expenditure on elementary education forms a
very large proportion of the State budget — it now accounts for nearly
10 per cent of the total State budget, and in the days to come it
will easily amount to about 15 per cent.

In this connection, we would like to point out that the Third
Finance Commission has recommended that it would be desirable
to give Central grants for specific purposes which are considered
important. There can be no more important subject to be singled
out for such treatment than the development of elementary

education. , .

If these recommendations are agreed to, the question arises:
what should be the basis on which the Central grants should be
given to the different State Governments on account of elementary
education? Our recommendation in this context is that the Central
grants to State Governments on account of elementary education
should be based on the principle of equalisation . In other words, the
Central grants to State Governments should be planned in such a
way as to ensure the provision of the same standard of elementary
education (as indicated by cost per pupil) in every part of the coun-
try on the basis of the same local effort (as indicated by the propor-
tion of its income which each State raises for elementary education).

An illustration would make this point clear. Let us assume that, at
the end of the Fourth Plan, the cost per pupil in elementary schools
would be raised to Rs. 45. Let us further assume that, by the
end of the Fourth Plan each State would be required to spend
one per cent of its income for the purpose of elementary education.

128 ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN INDIA

Since the ability to support elementary education, as indicated
by the State income, varies from State to State, this equal effort
on the part of each State would obviously produce different amounts
in different States. In one State, for instance, it may produce as
little as Rs. 20 per pupil and in another, as much as Rs. 35 per pupil.
The Central grant to the first State on the basis of eqi^lisation
would, therefore, be Rs. 25 per pupil and that to the second State
would be Rs. 10 per pupil. If the same basis is adopted for all
the States, at the end of the Fourth Plan it would be possible for
every State to provide Rs. 45 for the education of each child, by
raising 1 per cent of the State income for elementary education.

One clarification is needed. The above statement should not be
taken to mean that the cost per pupil would exactly be Rs. 45 in
all the States at the end of the Fourth Plan. Such uniformity is
neither possible nor desirable. In some States, the cost may fall
below Rs. 45 and may remain only at Rs. 40, the reason being
that the State is not making the necessary effort to raise local re-
sources. The Central grant, therefore, would be limited to the
difference between a cost of Rs. 40 per pupil and the amount per
pupil which would have been raised had it made the given local
effort of spending 1 per cent of its income on elementary education.
The State thus stands to lose for its failure to tax itself. On the
other hand, in another State the cost per pupil may b6 raised to
Rs. 60. In this case, the Central grant-in-aid would still be limit-
ed to the cost per pupil of Rs. 45 and the additional amount of
Rs. 15 per pupil would have to be provided by the State concerned
from its own resources. Ip fact, such inequalities, both in result
and in effort, will always remain because the States would be making
different efforts for providing elementary education and would accord
it different priorities. What will happen under the equalisation
programme is that a certain minimum expenditure per pupil which
would be prescribed from time to time would be attainable in every
State through a given minimum effort on the part of the State.
While providing equality of opportunity, therefore, this basis of
grant-in-aid also leaves room for individual States to forge ahead
with the help of local resources. As time passes and the wealth
of the country increases, this floor of expenditure per pupil would
be continually increased, thus providing more satisfying standards
of education to all the people.

FINANCING OF ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN INDIA 129

V

Existing Inequalities in the Development of Elementary Education
in the Different States- ■ The need for such equalisation would be
clear if we examine the existing position of elementary education
in the different States. For the purpose of this study, we shall
restrict our enquiry to the year 1960-61, the last year of the Second
Five Year Plan and the latest year for which detailed data are
available.

The first thing that strikes a student from the perusal of the rele-
vant facts is that the different States of the Indian Union are faced
with a problem in elementary education whose complexity , extent
and difficulty vary from area to area. For instance, the problem
of elementary education involves a number of physical, social,
cultural and economic factors such as the following.

(a) The Density of Population. It is easier to provide elementary
schools in thickly populated areas while it becomes costlier and
more difficult to do so in places of scattered and thin population.

(i b ) The Proportion 'of Small Habitations. It is difficult to provide
facilities for elementary education in small habitations with a popu-
lation of less than 300 or so. The States which have very large
proportion of such habitations have, therefore, a more difficult
task to perform.

(c) The Population of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
These weaker sections of the community are the poorest and the least
educated, and their proportion in the total population varies from
State to State. A State with a large population of Scheduled
Castes and Scheduled Tribes (e.g. Orissa) has a far more difficult
task than another which has a comparatively smaller proportion of
population of these weaker groups (e.g. Maharashtra).

(d) Traditional Prejudices against the Education of Girls . Where
these are stronger (e.g. Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan) the problem
becomes more difficult than in any area where they have already
been overcome (e.g. Kerala).

(e) The Proportion of Children in Age-group 6-14 to the Total Popu-
lation. The number of children in the age-group 6-14 and its pro-
portion to the total population depends upon the birth and death
rates which vary from State to State. Consequently, some States have
a proportionally larger load of children to be educated than others.

130 ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN INDIA

(f) The Proportion of Rural Population in the Total. The more
urbanised States are richer and it is also easier to provide facilities
for elementary education in urban areas than in rural areas. States
with a large proportion of rural population, therefore, are in a less
advantageous position than those which have comparatively large
urban population.

The variations in all these respects from State to State are given
in Table I.

It will be seen that each one of these States shows large variations
in every sector. With regard to density of population, for instance,
the variations are from 153 persons per square mile in Rajasthan
and 189 persons per square mile in Madhya Pradesh on the one hand
to 1,032 persons per square mile in West Bengal and 1,127 per square
mile in Kerala on the other. In Madhya Pradesh, the existence
of forest areas and tribal population which lives in scattered habi-
tations are responsible for the low density of population ; while in
Rajasthan, the low density is mainly due to the desert conditions
in the western part. In Kerala and West Bengal, the average
densities of population are very high, and in some districts the den-
sities are even higher.

Similarly in respect of small and scattered habitations, we find
that their proportion is the highest in Rajasthan (71.7 per cent) and
in Uttar Pradesh (77.9 per cent). In Kerala, this is extremely
low, i.e. 14.1 per cent; because in the coastal part of Kerala there
are no villages as such and the entire population lives in a
continuous pattern. Excluding this extreme case, the percentage
of habitations with less than 300 people is low enough in Andhra
Pradesh (50.7 per cent), Gujerat, Maharashtra (51.6 per cent)
and Madras (54 per cent).

The population of the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes also
shows considerable variations. The population of the scheduled
castes is highest in Uttar Pradesh (20.91 per cent), Punjab (20.38
per cent) and West Bengal (19.9 per cent). This is lowest in Mahara-
shtra (5.61 per cent), Assam (6.17 per cent), and Gujerat (6.63 per
cent). The scheduled tribes are found in large numbers in Assam
(17.42 per cent), Gujerat (13.35 per cent), Madhya Pradesh (20.63
per cent), Orissa (24.07 per cent) and Rajasthan (11.46 per cent).
These hardly exist in Jammu and Kashmir and Uttar Pradesh. Tak-
ing these two communities together, Orissa has the heaviest burden

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ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN INDIA

FINANCING OF ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN INDIA

133

to carry (39.82 per cent). On the other hand, Jammu and Kashmir
has the lowest load (7.54 per cent).

With regard to the percentage of children in the age-group 6-14
to the total population, the highest proportion is found in Punjab
(21.32 per cent) and lowest in Andhra Pradesh (18.85 per cent).

The rural population is highest in Orissa (93.68 per cent) and
Assam (92.31 per cent). It is lowest in Maharashtra (71.78 per
cent), Madras (73.31 per cent) and West Bengal (75.55 per cent).

It may not be possible, nor even necessary, to combine the effect
of all these different handicaps in each State. The statistics given
above will, however, clearly show how the complexity, extent and
difficulty of providing universal elementary education vary from
State to State.

The second point which emerges" from a comparative study of
the States is that their ability to support elementary education as
well as their actual effort to finance it also show considerable
variations. By the expression “ability,” we mean the national in-
come per head of population as calculated from time to time and it
will be readily agreed that this is the best measure available to show
the capacity of each State to tax itself for all purposes, including
elementary education. By the expression “effort,” we mean the
actual expenditure which is incurred in the State for elementary
education. This will be denoted by the proportion which the total
expenditure incurred in the State on elementary education bears
to its total income or ability. Table II gives the latest available
data on these two points.

It will be seen, from column 4, that the ability of the States to
finance elementary education varies considerably. This is lowest
in Bihar (Rs. 200 per capita) and highest in Punjab (Rs. 398 per
capita). The variation, therefore, is as wide as 1:2. A reference
to columns 5 and 6 will similarly show that the total expenditure
on elementary education, as well as its proportion to the total State
income, varies considerably. For instance, Kerala makes the lar-
gest effort to provide elementary education and spends as much as
2.07 per cent of the State’s income on it. Then comes Maharashtra
which spends 1.24 per cent of its income on elementary education,
and that is followed by Mysore with 1.21 percent. At the other end
are the States of Uttar Pradesh and Orissa, each of which spends
0.61 of the State income on elementary education, followed by

Table II

ABILITY AND EFFORT OF STATES TO SUPPORT ELEMENTARY
EDUCATION (1960-61)

State

Total State

income

{1958-59)

{in crores of
rupees )

Total State
income per
head of
population
or ability
{ 1960-61 )

Total Expen-
diture on
education
from all
sources
{ 1960-61 )

{in thousands
of rupees)

Percentage of
total expendi-
ture on ele-
mentary edu-
cation(l 960-61)
of total State
income ( 1958 -
59) or effort

Andhra Pradesh

950

276

95,618

1.01

Assam

339

310

33,008

0.97

Bihar

894

200

76,093

0.85

Gujerat
Jammu and

642

326

76,279

1.19

Kashmir

68*

216*

7,643

1.12

Kerala

436

271

90,217

2.07

Madhya Pradesh

901

293

91,212

1.01

Madras

996

303

114,872

1.15

Maharashtra

1,356

369

168,395

1.24

Mysore

651

290

78,736

1.21

Orissa

452

271

27,554

0.61

Punjab

765

398

53,639

0.70

Rajasthan

581

317

50,433

0.87

Uttar Pradesh

1,835

259

111,249

0.61

West Bengal

902**

282**

86,681

0.96

* For 1955-56.
** For 1957-58.

N.B. The figures in column 5 pertain to total direct expenditure on teacher
training schools.

Rajasthan which spends 0.70 per cent. The efforts which the diffe-
rent States make to provide elementary education, therefore, show
an even wider variation than their ability or the State income. The
latter shows variations of the order of 1 :2 while the former shows
variation of the order of 1:3.4.

With these large variations in the complexity, extent and difficulty
of the problems to be faced and also in the ability and effort to
support elementary education, it is hardly a matter for surprise

134

FINANCING OF ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN INDIA

135

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN INDIA

if the accomplishment of the different States in elementary education
also shows considerable variations . This “accomplishment” may
be defined in a number of ways; and for convenience of reference,
we would adopt the following criteria.

Quantitative, (a) Enrolment in classes I-VIII as proportion
of the total population of children in the age-group 6-14 — separately
for boys and girls; and ( b ) the percentage of literacy — separately
for men and women.

Qualitative, (a) The general education of teachers as indicated
by the proportion of matriculates and above in the total number
of teachers ; (b) percentage of trained teachers and the duration of
the training course; (c) proportion of women teachers to the total
number of elementary teachers; (d) the proportion of salaries of
teachers to total direct expenditure on elementary schools— the
higher this proportion, the weaker will be the system because essen-
tial expenditure on non-teacher costs tends to be neglected; and
( e ) the cost per pupil.

The variations from State to State under these heads are given
in Tables III and IV.

Table III gives some important data regarding enrolment
and costs in elementary schools. It will be seen therefrom that
Kerala shows the best enrolment of 90.7 per cent (98.9 per cent
boys and 82.5 per cent girls). Next comes Madras with 66.1 per cent
(83.3 per cent boys and 49.0 per cent girls). This is followed
by Maharashtra (60.2 per cent), Gujerat (56.3 per cent), Mysore (55.6
per cent), Assam (53.5 per cent), Andhra Pradesh (49.9 per cent) and
West Bengal (49.9 per cent). At the other end are Rajasthan
with 31.2 per cent (50.2 per cent boys and 12.1 per cent girl?),
Uttar Pradesh with 43.8 per cent (54 per cent boys and 14.5 per cent
girls), Madhya Pradesh with 37.7 per cent (58.2 per cent
boys and 16.4 per cent girls), Jammu and Kashmir with 32.9 per
cent and Bihar 39.5 per cent. By and large, it may be said that
the enrolment of girls is much poorer as compared to that of boys.
The six backward States are Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir, Madhya
Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan and U,P.

<^Next to enrolment, the important factor influencing the quality
and expenditure is the pupil-teacher ratio) It will be seen from the
above table that, here also, there are large variations. The highest
pupil-teacher ratio is in Bihar (48:1) due mainly to the fact that

Table III

ENROLMENT, PUPIL-TEACHER RATIO, AVERAGE ANNUAL
SALARY OF TEACHERS, PROPORTION OF TEACHER-COSTS,
AND COST PER PUPIL IN ELEMENTARY EDUCATION

State

Enrolment in
classes I-VIII
us % of total
population in the
age-group 6-14

Boys Girls Total

Average
annual
salary of
elementary
teachers

Uk.)

Percentage
of salary of
teachers to
total direct
expenditure
on elemen-
tary schools

Number of Cost
pupils per per-
teacher pupil

(Rs.)

Andhra Pradesh

63.5

36.3

49.9

948.8

89.3

35

30.6

Assam

68.2

38.4

53.5

776.2

85.1

35

25.8

Bihar

Jammu and

60.3

17.5

39.5

769.8

92.0

42

20.1

Kashmir

59.3

17.0

38.9

800.1

78.4

31

32.6

Gujerat

71.7

40.0

56.3

1,113.0

88.1

38

33.1

Kerala

98.9

82.5

90.7

1,075.5

90.7

34

34.7

Madhya Pradesh 58.2

16.4

37.7

764.6

68.8

27

40.5

Madras

83.3

49.0

66.1

908.0

87.7

33

31.8

Maharashtra

75.6

43.7

60.2

1,222.6

85.9

37

38.7

Mysore

70.9

40.1

55.6

972.2

91.5

34

31.5

Orissa

63.6

26.3

44.7

560.2

89.4

34

18.4

Punjab

57.9

27.1

43.4

1,212.4

84.0

36

40.4

Rajasthan

50.2

12.1

31.8

988.0

88.2

28

39.4

Uttar Pradesh

54.0

14.5

34,8

669.8

77.4

37

23.5

West Bengal

65.2

34.1

49.9

821.3

90.3

30

30.1

enrolment has suddenly increased and it has not been possible for
the State Government to provide the necessary teachers. At the
other extreme is Madras with a pupil-teacher ratio of 23 (in the
last three years, however, the pupil-teacher ratio in Madras has
increased considerably) and Madhya Pradesh with a pupil-teacher
ratio of 37.

The average annual salary of elementary teachers is also given
in the above table. It is highest in Maharashtra (Rs. 1, 223) and
lowest in Orissa (Rs. 560). But th? scales of pay have been substan-
tially revised in Orissa, Assam, West Bengal, Mysore and Madhya
Pradesh in the Third Five Year Plan, and today the lowest

LITERACY AND TEACHERS IN THE DIFFERENT STATES (1960-61)

Rajasthan 24 6 15 76.0 One 51.4 45.3 50.6 12.3

Uttar Pradesh 27 7 18 29.1 Two 78.7 53.0 75.3 13.0

West Bengal 40 17 29 67.7 One 35.4 35.2 35.4 10-3

FINANCING OF ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN INDIA 137

average annual salary of elementary teachers will be in Uttar Pradesh

The percentage of the salaries of teachers to total direct
expenditure on elementary schools also varies from 92 per ^cent in
Bihar and 91.5 per cent in Mysore to 68.8 per cent in Madhya
Pradesh and 77.4 per cent in Uttar Pradesh. As stated earlier, a
high ratio in this regard means a general neglect of essential
non-teacher costs required for elementary schools and results in

poorer standards. . ,

As explained in Appendix I, there is an intimate relationship bet-

ween the average annual salary of elementary teachers, the propor-
tion of teacher costs to non-teacher costs and the pupil-teacher
ratio!) Consequently, the cost per pupil also varies greatly from
State to State. It is the highest in Madhya Pradesh (Rs. 40.5); not so
much because of high salaries, as because of the low pupil-teacher
ratio and greater weightage given to the non-teacher costs. Then
comes Punjab (Rs. 40.4), where the cost per pupil is high mainly
because of the good salary provided to the elementary teachers.
At the other end are Orissa (Rs. 19.4), Bihar (Rs. 20.1) and Uttar
Pradesh (Rs. 23.5). The salaries in Orissa having been revised,
the cost per pupil will also go up in the Third Plan. It will be seen
that the variation in the cost per pupil also is as wide as 1 :2.

A reference to Table IV will show that similar differences
are found in certain other allied sectors also. For instance,
the percentage of literacy varies from 47 in Kerala (55 for men and
39 for women) to 11 in Jammu and Kashmir (17 for men and 4 for
women). The qualifications of teachers also vary. The matriculate
and graduate teachers form 76 per cent of the total m Rajasthan,
70 3 per cent in Punjab and 69.2 per cent in Jammu and Kashmir.
But they form only 15.7 per cent in Orissa and 18.4 per cent in
Assam The duration of the training course is two years in Andhra
Pradesh, Bihar, Gujerat, Kerala, Madras, Maharashtra, Orissa,
Punjab and Uttar Pradesh, and only one year in the remaining States.
The percentage of trained teachers is very high m Madras (96.1
per cent), Punjab (91.7 per cent) and Kerala (85.9 per cent). It is
lowest in West Bengal ( 35.4 per cent) and Assam (35.9 per cent)
The proportion of women teachers is the highest in Kerala (42.9
per cent) and the lowest in Madhya Pradesh (11.2 per cent).

It is not suggested that all such variations should or could be

^ elementary education in INDIA

made to disappear. (But the principle of equalisation, if adopted
will secure two results: (a) no State in the Union will be allowed
to fall below a minimum level which would be the prescribed mini-
mum; and (i b ) the same standard of educational facilities (roughly
denoted by the cost per pupil) will be provided by the same given
effort on the part of the State concerned, in every area of the Union.
Moreover, this attempt at equalisation will also enable the more
progressive States to forge ahead with the help of their own local
resource^ ^ This will, at some later stage, necessitate the raising
of the minimum level prescribed. A process of going from one
stage of development of elementary education to the next higher
one will thus be built within the system itself.

VI

Basis of Equalisation Grants. Having thus established the need
to provide equalisation grants for elementary education from the
Centre to the States, we shall now proceed toidiscuss the possible
basis on which such grants can be made in the near future.

Three alternative bases have been suggested in the different writ-
ings on the subject.

(a) The first basis suggested is that the Central grant should be
related to the population of the State concerned . The main argument
in this proposal is that the expenditure on elementary education
gets ultimately related to the number of pupils who, in their turn,
are related to the total population. Simplicity of calculations is
another point in its favour. We are not, however, recommending
this basis for two reasons.

(0 The number of children in the age-group 6-14 does not
bear the same ratio to the total population in every State (this
has already been shown earlier in Table I). An equalisation
grant based on population would, therefore, favour those States
where the proportion of children in the age-group 6-14 is lower.

(ii) Secondly, this basis would work satisfactorily after all the
children are enrolled in schools.) In the present situation in India
we have not enrolled even 40 per cent of the total number of
children enrolled in some States. An equalisation grant related
to population would, therefore, earn amounts far in excess of
actual expenditure in such States.

FINANCING OF ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN INDIA

139

(b) The second suggestion is that the Central grant to the States
should be related to the salaries of teachers and should approximately
be about 50 per cent of the total expenditure on salaries and allowances
of elementary teachers. The underlying assumption of this pro-
posal is that the non-teacher costs would form about 30 per cent
of the total expenditure on elementary education and would be
shared, broadly on 50:50 basis, between the States and the local
bodies or communities. The teacher costs would form about
70 per cent of the total direct expenditure on elementary education
and would be shared by the Centre and the States broadly on a
50:50 basis. In the last analysis, therefore, about 35 per cent of
the total expenditure on elementary education would be borne
by the Centre, about 50 per cent by the State Governments, and
about 15 per cent by the local bodies and local communities.
We broadly accept this rough allocation of the total expenditure bet-
ween the Centre, the States and the local bodies. We also agree
to another advantage claimed in this proposal that it will enable
the State Governments to raise salaries of elementary teachers
which is an urgently needed reform. If this basis is to be adopted,
the Centre will have to lay down, from time to time, the pupil-teacher
ratio and minimum average annual salary of the teachers on the
basis of which the Central equalisation grants would be given.
It would then be open to the States to adopt a higher or lower pupil-
teacher ratio and give higher (but not lower) salaries and meet the
extra expenditure involved from their own resources. We have
no theoretical objection to the adoption of this basis, but as
we see it, this basis almost amounts to a grant-in-aid on the cost
per pupil basis which, besides being simpler,' has the further ad-
vantage of encouraging expenditure on contingencies or equipment
and the provision of ancillary services. In our opinion, a programme
of school meals is very important in the present context in India
and should also be assisted by the Centre.

(c) The third basis proposed for adoption is the cost per pupil.
This has several advantages. In the first place, it gives consider-
able latitude to the States to vary the different factors involved-
salaries of teachers, pupil-teacher ratios and proportion of teacher-
costs to non-teacher costs. Secondly, it provides aid not only to
one or two items of the programme, but to all its different aspects.
This is a distinct advantage because the programme of elementary

•

140

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN INDIA

education has, in practice, to be regarded as an integrated whole.
Thirdly, it is possible to combine within it, if necessary, certain
safeguards relating to such essential programmes as salaries of tea-
chers or the provision of school meals by earmarking part of the
assistance to these programmes or by making it conditional upon
the fulfilment of certain prescribed conditions. On the whole,
therefore, we strongly recommend the adoption of the cost per pupil
as the basis for equalisation grants proposed from the Centre to the
States.

Incidentally, it may be pointed out that in the United States,
where equalisation grants are given by the State to the local autho-
rities, the basis of grants adopted is either (a) the class-room ex-
penditure, or (b) the cost per pupil. The last two bases suggested
by us above correspond to these two practices. In the conditions
as they obtain in India today, however, the basis of cost per pupil
would be more advantageous, educationally and administratively.

Fixation of the Central Grants to States for Elementary Educa-
tion on the Basis of Equalisation at the end of the Third Plan ( 1965 -
66). Having discussed the basis on which Central grants to States
for elementary education on the principle of equalisation would
be calculated, viz. the cost per pupil, we shall now have to decide
the date from which this new basis of equalisation grants would be
introduced . In our opinion , the most convenient date for the purpose
would be the end of the Third Five Year Plan or 1965-66. This will
give nearly two years to make the preliminary arrangements. Be-
sides, it will not upset any existing arrangement for the Third Plan.
It would rather start the programme of expanding and improving
elementary education to be included in the Fourth Five Year Plan
on a scientific and adequate basis.

For this purpose, we will have to determine the entire committed
expenditure on account of elementary education as it ftould be at
the end of the Third Five Year Plan and also decide what the share
of the Centre would be in this total expenditure. Our own estimate
of these is given below.

(1) At the end of the Second Five Year Plan (1960-61), the total
expenditure on elementary education was Rs. 1198.4 million as
compared to Rs. 417.4 million in 1949-50 which implies an annual
increase of about 10 per cent per annum (compound interest law).
In the Third Five Year Plan, the rate of growth of the expenditure

FINANCING OF ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN INDIA

141

on elementary eduction would be larger than in the past because
the development of elementary education has been emphasized in
the Plan (elementary education receives Rs. 2,090 million or about
51 per cent of the Plan outlay on general education) and because
the actual enrolments have even exceeded the targets originally
fixed. In our opinion, therefore, the total committed expenditure
on elementary education at the end of the Third Five Year Plan
would be about Rs. 2,100 million which implies an annual increase
of about 12 per cent per year in the Third Five Year Plan. As against
this expenditure, the total enrolment is expected to be about 63
million which implies that the cost per pupil would be about Rs.
33.33 as against Rs. 32.13 in 1960-61. Contrary to expectations,
we feel that the cost per pupil at the end of the Third Five Year Plan
would be almost the same as at the end of the Second Five Year
Plan because the rise in enrolments and pupil-teacher ratios has
been very steep and the total investment on elementary education
has not increased according to expectations. This obviously im-
plies some deterioration in standards, especially if allowance is
made for the rise in prices.

(2) The total expenditure on elementary education would, there-
fore, rise to Rs. 2,100 million by 1965-66. The total national in-
come is expected to rise to Rs. 176,000 million by the same date.
At the end of the Third Five Year Plan, therefore, the total expen-
diture on elementary education is expected to rise to 1.2 per cent
of the national income (the total expenditure on all education is
expected to rise by the same date to about 3 per cent of the national
income).

(3) We have already recommended that the Centre should bear
about one-third of the total expenditure on elementary education.
We, therefore, feel that the States should be required to make an
effort equal to 0.8 per cent of their income and that the Central
grant on equalisation basis should amount to 0.4 per oent of the
national income.

The proposals made above are for India as a whole, and do not
apply to any given State. From the theoretical point of view, how-
ever, they may be said to apply to the “average State,” i.e. a State
which satisfies two conditions.

(a) Its income per capita is equal to the average income per capita
for the country as a whole; and (b) the proportion of whose popula-

142 ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN INDIA

tion enrolled in elementary schools is also equal to the similar avera-
age for the country as a whole. Obviously, such an “average
State’ * will generally remain a mathematical abstraction and a
practical method will have to be devised for deciding the quantum of
aid to be given to each individual State of the Union , once the pro-
gramme for the country as a whole is decided . This can be done
with the help of the following formula:

Let Pm =* contribution per pupil of the average State
Po - contribution per pupil of any given State
Z = amount guaranteed per pupil in the minimum programme
Qm = amount of aid per pupil of the average State
Qo = amount of aid per pupil for any given State
K = proportion of the programme to be derived from the States
Pm

Z

Ro = ratio of ability of any given State to ability of average State
Po

Pm

Po

Now Po — x Pm—Ro x Pm, and Pm—KZ

Pm

Substituting, Po~KZRo
Now Qo ~ Z—Po

= Z—KZRo
= Z(l— KRo) (1)

At the end of the Third Five Year Plan

Pm =■ contribution per pupil of the average State— Rs. 22.22
Z — amount guaranteed per pupil in the minimum pro-
gramme=Rs. 33.33

Qm = amount of aid per pupil of the average State =Rs. 11.11
K = proportion of the programme to be derived from the

States =2/3.

On these bases, we will have to calculate Qo or the amount of
aid per pupil in any given State. This can be done on the basis
of the above formula.

Let us assume that, in 1965-66, the income per pupil (i.e. the total
State income divided by the number of pupils enrolled in elementary
schools) for the country as a whole is Rs. 3,000 and that it varies

FINANCING OF ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN INDIA 143

from Rs. 2,000 in the poorest State (Bihar) to Rs. 4,000 in the richest
State (Punjab). The above formula will help us to calculate the
Central aid per pupil for these two States without altering the total
liability of the Centre to assist the programme as a whole at one-

third of its total cost. , . „ .

The aid per pupil for Bihar would, for instance, be the following.

Central aid per pupil = Rs. Z (\—KRo)

2000 \

1 3 X 3600J

= Rs.33.33 (l-y)

= Rs. 33.33
= Rs. 18.52

Similarly, the aid per pupil in the Punjab would be as follows :

Central aid per pupil = ■ Rs. Z (UKRo)

= Rs. 33.33 (I- 3 -X 3000 J

- Rs. 33.33

= Rs. 33.33 (!)

- Rs. 3.7

This will show how the Central aid will be greater for poorer

States and smaller for the richer States.

Once the Central aid to the States on account of elementary
education is fixed at the end of the Third Five Year Plan, the next
step would be to indicate how the programme would be developed
further, quantitatively and qualitatively, from Plan to Plan. Our
suggestions in this respect are: (1) the Centre should indicate the
cost per pupil that it expects to attain for the country as a whole
by the end of each Plan (Fourth, Fifth and Sixth); (2) the Centre
should also indicate the enrolments that should be reached by the
end of each Plan (Fourth, Fifth and Sixth); (3) the Centre should
also lay down, for each Plan, the share of the total expenditure which
it expects the States to raise (as we have indicated already, this
should be about two-thirds of the total expenditure).

144

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN INDIA

FINANCING OF ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN INDIA

145

If these three steps are taken, the aid to be given by the Centre
would also automatically become determinate. An indication of
the proposed programme which may be kept in view for this purpose
has been given below on the assumption that the directive of Article
45 of the Constitution would be fulfilled by 1981.

1965-66

1970-71

1975-76

1980-81

Enrolment in classes I-VII1
(in millions)

63

92

120

140

Cost per pupil (in rupees)

33.33

40

50

70

Programmed expenditure on
elementary education (in millions
of rupees)

(a) Recurring

2,100

3,680

6,000

9,800

(b) Non-recurring

—

96

300

700

Total

2,100

3,776

6,300

10,500

National income

(in millions of rupees)

176,000

236,000

373,000

525,000

Percentage of national income
spent on elementary education

1.2

1.6

2.0

2.0

We have not made any attempt to indicate how the Central aid
proposed to be given under such equalisation programme would
vary from State to State at the end of the Third, Fourth, Fifth and
the Sixth Plan.? Any attempt to do so involves a large number of
assumptions regarding (1) the rate of increase of population in
each State, (2) the rafe of increase of the child population in each
State, (3) the rate at which enrolments in elementary schools would
increase in each State, and (4) the rate at which the total income
would increase in each State) Some assumptions on all these sub-
heads could be made; but their total effect would be to make the
final figures very unreliable. We have, therefore, contented our-
selves by indicating the broad principle of equalisation and also the
programme for the country as a whole. On the basis of the recom-
mendations made by us, it should be possible to work out a Central

aid programme for each State of the Indian Union at any given
'time. i

In the practical administration of the aid programme, certain
precautions would have to be taken to see that the aid is not mis-
used and that it promotes the best interests of the programme . The
following clarifications woqld, therefore, have to be made.

(1) A certain cost per pupil would be assumed as the basis of
the equalisation programme drawn up from time to time. But
it is open to a State to spend a larger amount per pupil. The
Central aid to such a State, however, will only be given on the
basis of cost per pupil assumed in the equalisation programme.
On the other hand, a State may spend a smaller amount per pupil
than what has been assumed in the equalisation programme. In
such a case, the amount of Central aid to the State would be cal-
culated on the assumption that the actual expenditure per pupil
incurred in that State was to be the basis assumed in the equalisa-
tion programme. The State would thus lose financially and would
be induced to spend more per pupil.

(2) In every State, the total expenditure on elementary educa-
tion incurred in any given year should not be less than the amount
realised by the minimum prescribed effort to be made by the State
plus the amount of Central aid given for that year. If the actual
expenditure in any given year were to fall short of this sum, the
Central aid to be given to the State during the next year should be
adjusted accordingly.

The second condition is more important and fundamental and
includes the first as well. A clear insistence on this principle will
see to it that the Central aid is not diverted to purposes other than
elementary education.

VII

Equalisation Grants from States to Local Bodies : The Principle
of equalisation suggested by us as between the Centre and the States
is also equally applicable to the grants-in-aid, for the purpose of ele-
mentary education, from the States to the local bodies. In this con-
nection, we make the following recommendations.

(1) In determining the grants to Zilia Parishads or Panchayat
Samitis which are rural bodies, the basis of land revenue per pupil

146

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN INDIA

FINANCING OF ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN INDIA

147

enrolled in schools may be adopted to indicate the ability of the
local body to support elementary education^ This is an easily
ascertainable base and it also fairly indicates the economic capacity
of the local body. In other words,( the grants to Zilla Parishads
and Panchayat Samitis given by State Governments should be made
to vary on the basis of the land revenue per pupil raised in the area
pf the Zilla Parishad or Panchayat Samiti concerned.

(2) With regard to the municipalities, the valuation of the pro-
perty within its area will provide a good basis of its ability to support
elementary education. At present, all municipal bodies levy a
house tax and a tax on open sites. The rates of these taxes vary
from one municipality to another; but it should be possible for the
State Government to lay down that all municipalities within its
area would make an equal effort for elementary education, i.e.,
they would contribute a prescribed percentage of an educational
cess on real property situated within its area for the purposes of
elementary education and the difference between the amount so
raised and the total programmed expenditure as decided by the
State, should be given as a grant-in-aid^

We had an intention of working out the details of an equalisa-
tion programme for two States, Rajasthan and Maharashtra. We
selected Rajasthan because Panchayat Samitis in this State have
been placed in charge of primary education and a study of equalisa-
tion programme for Rajasthan would have given a picture of the
manner in which it would be operated with regard to Panchayat
Samitis. In Maharashtra, the Zilla Parishads and municipalities
are in charge of elementary education and it would, therefore,
have been possible to see how the programme works in relation to
the urban local authorities and the district level local bodies. But
it was not possible for us to obtain all the necessary data in time.
We would , however , recommend that separate studies should be made ,
on the principles recommended above, for these two States as early as
possible. At a later stage , it would be worth while Jo carry out similar
studies for every State of the Indian Union. We strongly feel that if
such studies are carried out for all the States of the Indian Union and
brought to the notice of the authorities concerned , public opinion
would be adequately educated on the advantages of an equalisation
programme . This would ultimately help in securing larger funds for
elementary education and expediting its expansion and improvement.

A Summary of Findings and Recommendations . For convenience ~
* of reference, we give below a summary of our main findings and
recommendations.

1. The object of this paper is to suggest a new system for the
financing of elementary education in India, based on the principle
of equalisation.

2. The process of “equalisation” in public school finances arises
from two democratic principles: (a) all children should have equal
educational advantages, and (b) the burden of the support of educa-
tion should be borne equally by the tax payers.

3. Equalisation is necessitated whenever the territory in which
the pupils live is divided into units of unequal financial ability.
Even a casual study of the Indian situation will show that the States
vary considerably in their ability to support elementary education;
and within a given State, the different Panchayat Samitis, Zilla
Parishads and municipalities will also show similar (or even larger)
variations of economic ability.

4. In 1961, the total enrolment in elementary schools in the
Indian Union was 416 million and the s total expenditure on ele-
mentary education was Rs. 1,198 million. The cost per pupil was
Rs. 32.13 and the country spent 0.827 of its national income on
elementary education which worked out at Rs. 2.73 per head of popu-
lation. If the directive principle of Article 45 of the Constitution
is to be implemented by 1981, the enrolments in elementary schools
are expected to rise to 140 million. The cost per pupil would have
to be raised to Rs. 65 at least to provide for that measure of quali-
tative improvement which is now universally desired. This will
raise the total expenditure on elementary education to about Rs.
10,000 million (inclusive of non-recurring expenditure) or 2.4 per
cent of the estimated national income in 1981 which works out at
Rs. 14.3 per head of population.

5. A vast programme of this type cannot be successfully
attempted on the present basis of grant-in-aid from the Centre to
the States. At present, Central grants are given for developmental
expenditure only and there are no specific earmarked grants for
elementary education. If the programme of elementary education
is to progress according to schedule, it is necessary to institute a
specific earmarked Central grant to States for purposes of elementary
education. It should cover all expenditure on the programme.

148

149

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN INDIA

committed as well as developmental, recurring as well as non-
recurring. This new system should be brought into force at the end
of the Third Five Year Plan so that the progress— quantitative and
qualitative — of elementary education in the succeeding three Plans
would be accelerated and universal elementary education provided
by 1981.

6. The Central grants to the States should be based on the prin-
ciple of equalisation, i.e., the aid to any given State should be in-
versely proportional to its ability to support elementary education.
In other words, the richer States should get less and the poorer
States more aid per pupil from Central funds. Moreover, the
same level of elementary education (as indicated by the cost per
pupil) should be attainable in every State for the same prescribed
minimum effort, i.e., if the State expends on the programme of
elementary education a given percentage of its total income.

7. A study of the development of elementary education in the
States of the Indian Union reveals that they show immense variations
in (a) the complexity, extent and difficulty of the problem to be
faced, (b) their ability to support education and the actual effort
made to do so, and (c) the level of expansion reached as well as
the quality of education provided!) There is hardly any justifica-
tion for most of these variations which could be considerably re-
duced by a programme of equalisation.

8. The basis adopted for equalisation should be the cost per

pupil.

9. The equalisation grants for elementary education, as recom-
mended in this report, should be introduced at the end of the Third
Plan. The general principle adopted should be that the Centre
should bear one-third of the total expenditure on a programme
of elementary education and the remaining two-thirds should be
borne by the States, the local authorities and the local communities.
By and large, this would imply that the Centre would bear about
half the expenditure incurred on salaries and allowances of teachers,
the other half being borne by the State Governments. The non-
teacher costs also would be shared between the States and the local
authorities (or local communities) on 50 : 50 basis.

10. The principle of equalisation suggested here to govern the
Central grants to the States cquld also be extended to govern the
State grants to the local authorities— the Zilla Parishads, the

FINANCING OF ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN INDIA

Panchayat Samitis, and municipalities. In the case of Zilla
fcarishads and Panchayat Samitis, the land revenue raised per pupil
enrolled in schools kshould be taken as a measure of their ability
to support elementary education and the State grants apportioned
accordingly. In the case of municipalities, the income per pupil
enrolled in elementary schools as realised from a tax on real property
(houses and open sites), collected at a prescribed rate, should be
taken as the basis of the ability of the municipal body concerned to
support elementary education and the State grant should be
apportioned accordingly.

11. It would be desirable to work out the details of a program-
me of equalisation grants between the Centre and the States as at
the end of the Third Five Year Plan on some suitable basis that may
be agreed to between the Centre and the States. Similar studies
should also be carried out for programmes of equalisation in each
of the States for equalising the grant-in-aid to local bodies. Such
studies should also be publicised for the information of all concerned.

Statistical Table I

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INDEX

ABSENTEEISM^ 8
ADULT education, 8-9, 14-7,

19, 46-7

AGRICULTURE, 39
ALL-INDIA Educational Survey
Report (1957), 29
AMRAELI Mahal experiment
compulsory education, 2
AMRAOTI (Maharashtra), 28
ANCILLARY services see student
welfare services
ANDHRA PRADESH
compulsory education, 4
elementary education
enrolment, 134-5, 151
finance

irt cost per pupil, 135
irt pupil-teacher ratio, 135
irt teacher education, 136-7, 153
irt teachers

qualifications, 136
salaries, 135

irt total educational expendi-
ture, 133, 152
irt total State income, 133
literacy figures, 136
middle school education, 1 52
population

irt children in age-group 6-14,
131-2, 150
irt density, 131
irt rural population, 131
irt small habitations, 130-1
irt socially handicapped
scheduled castes, 131
scheduled tribes, 131
ANNADAN movement
elementary education
student welfare services
lunches, school, 70

ARYAVARTA, 6
ASSAM

compulsory education, 4
elementary education
enrolement, 134-5, 151
finance

irt cost per pupil, 135
irt pupil- teacher ratio, 135
irt teacher education, 136-7, 153
irt teachers

qualifications, 136-7
salaries, 135

irt total educational expendi-
ture, 133, 152
irt total State income, 133
literacy figures, 136
middle school education, 152
population

irt children in age-group
6-14, 131, 150 |
irt density, 131
irt rural population, 131-2
irt small habitations, 131
irt socially handicapped

scheduled castes, 130-1
scheduled tribes, 130-1
ASSAM Compulsory Education
Act (1962), 47

BALWANTRAI MEHTA Com-
mittee

elementary education
administration

local government, 45
BASIC education, 2-3, 37-41
and community schools, 63
conversion programme, 37
correlation, 38
crafts, 38-40
curriculum, 39-41

156

INDEX

INDEX

157

agriculture, 39
English language, 39
factors for slow progress, 39-40
oriental programme, 31, 38-41
remedial measures, 40-1
self-sufficiency, 3, 38
and standards, 37-41

BASTAR (Madhya Pradesh), 28

BIHAR

compulsory education, 4-7, 25-6
elementary education
enrolment, 7, 12, 134-5, 151
finance

irt cost per pupil, 135, 137
irt pupil-teacher jatio, 134-5
irt teacher education, 136-7
irt teachers

qualifications, 136
salaries, 135, 137
irt total educational
expenditure, 133, 152
irt total State income, 132-3
literacy figures, 136
middle school education, 152
population

irt children in age-group
6-14> 131, 150
irt density, 131
irt rural population, 131
irt small habitations, 131
irt socially handicapped
scheduled castes, 131
scheduled tribes, 131

BOMBAY Primary Education
Rules (1947)
elementary education
administration
village school committee
supervisory functions, 67-8

BUILDINGS, School, see under
school plant
CAMPING, 41

CENTRAL Advisory Board of
Education

compulsory education
Sargent Plan, 3, 81
CHINA

adult education, 17-8
elementary education, 10, 17-8
part-time education, 10
CLASS size, 19, 28, 91-2
irt part-time education, 19
irt pupil-teacher ratio, 91-2
COMMUNES (France), 46
COMMUNISM and education, 17
COMMUNITY development pro-
grammes .
elementary education
administration
local government
block level, 53
COMMUNITY schools, 63
COMPULSORY attendance see
under compulsory education

COMPULSORY education, 1-13,
15-9, 47-52, 78, 81
enrolment programmes, 7-12,

15-7, 19

and adults education, 8-9,

15-7, 19

and double-shift system, 2, 10
and family planning, 8-9, 19
and parents, 8

and part-time education, 10,19
and pupil- teacher ratio, 10, 19
and Sargent Plan, 3, 5, 78, 81
finance, 12-3, 18-9
history

British period, 1-3, 60
post-Independence period, 47,
18-9

factors for slow progress, 5-7
laws and legislation
compulsory attendance, 5, 47

CONSTITUTION of India
compulsory education, 3, 5, 12,
45, 53, 81-3, 118-20, 127, 144,

147

CONTINUATION class see part-
time education
CORRELATION
basic education, 38-40
CORRESPONDENCE schools
and courses
teacher education, 34
COST per pupil, 18, 23, 122, 127-8,
135, 137

elementary education
different States, 135, 137
CRAFTS, 32, 38-41
basic education, 38-41
middle school education, 32, 40
secondary education, 41
CURRICULUM, 23, 31, 35, 39-41
basic education, 39-41
elementary education, 23, 31, 35,
40-1, 52

CURZON (Lord)
elementary education
finance

federal govt, grant, 44-5
DANCING, 41

DECENTRALISATION, Democ-
ratic, 45, 47, 51-3, 56
elementary education
vs. centralisation, 51
experiments and research, 51-3
DELHI, 4, 7, 14, 26
compulsory education, 4, 7, 26
DEMOCRACY, 15, 118
DROPOUTS see wastage and
stagnation

DOUBLE-shift system
elementary education, 27, 31, 40
ECONOMIC development and ele-
mentary education, 14, 17-19, 124

EDUCATION of Women we
women’s education

EDUCATIONAL Administration
elementary education
federal govt., 52-3
local govt., 44-53, 63-72, 145-6
different countries
France, 45-6, 49
United Kingdom, 45
history, 44-6

Indian Education Commis-
sion (1882), 44
Hartog Committee Report
(1928), 45

Balwantrai Mehta Com-
mittee Report, 45
Panchayati Raj Institutions
village level
village panchayats
finance, 64, 69, 71-2
functions

irt children’s welfare, 64
irt compulsory atten-
dance, 63-4, 67
irt school fund, 64, 69,
70-2

prt school plant, 64-7,
irt student welfare
services, 64-5
irt supervision and super-
visors, 64, 67-9
irt textbooks provision
etc., 64, 69

village school committees,
47, 67-8, 70-1
constitution, 70-1
supervisory powers, 67-8
block level, 48-9, 53
panchayat samities, 64-7
72, 145-6, 149
district level, 48-53, 145-6,
149

158

INDEX

INDEX

159

Local Development Autho-
rity

functions

economic development,

49-50

educational planning,

49-50

family planning, 49-52
state govt., 52-3
middle school education
local govt., 49
secondary education
local govt., 49

EDUCATIONAL Planning, 74-117
elementary education
development programme, 74-117
equivalization of different states,
116-7

state plans, 115-6
experiments and research, 100
finance, 78-9, 100-13
ELEMENTARY education
classification of elementary
schools, 36-7
and community, 15
and curriculum, 23, 31, 35, 40-1
development programme (1961-
1976), 74-117
different countries
China, 10, 17-8, 63
France, 45-6, 49, 72
Japan, 56, 93, 106
Philippines, 63
U.S.S.R., 56

United Kingdom, 1, 31, 45, 54,
56, 106

and economic development, 14-5,
17, 19

and educational administration,
42, 44-53, 63-72, 145-6, 149
educational planning, 74-117
development programme ( 1 96 1 -
76), 74-1 17,

enrolment, 1, 24-31, 42-3, 55,
76-7, 80, 82-3, 85, 98, 122-3,
134-5, 151

equalization, educational, 28,
52-3, 57-8

experiments and research, 51-3,
93

finance, 12-3, 53-8, 78, 98, 101-2,
104, 108, 118-49
integration scheme, 48-9
laws and legislation, 2, 5, 47, 52
part-time education, 10-2, 19,
26-7, 43

pupil-teacher ratio, 10-11, 19,
23-4, 28,53-4, 109-13, 121-2, 135
school plant, 24, 47, 52, 54, 64,
67, 98, 104

standards, 22-4, 30-43, 59-60
student welfare services, 23-4,
35-6, 43, 47, 52, 54, 57, 64, 67,
69, 72, 99, 101, 121
supervision and supervisors, 46,
52, 58-9, 67-9

teacher education, 33-5, 47-8,
52,58, 85, 87-8, 97-8, 121,136-7
teacher education in service, 34,
52, 87, 121

teachers, 23-4, 32-6, 47-9, 52-4,
57-60, 85-6, 89, 95, 126, 135-7
wastage and stagnation, 9-11,
30, 43, 85

ELEMENTARY schools
classification of, 36-7
ENGLISH

and basic education, 48
ENROLMENT, 1, 24-32, 36, 42-3,
55, 76-7, 80, 82-3, 85, 98, 122-3,
134-5, 151

EQUALISATION, Educational,
28, 52-3, 57-8

EXPERIMENTS and research
elementary education
administration, 51-3

development programme (1961-
76), 100

teachers’ replacement rate, 93
FAILURE, Student see wastage
and stagnation

FAMILY planning, 8-9, 19, 49, 124
FIELD trips, 52, 72
FINANCE, 12-3, 53-8, 78, 98,
101-2, 104, 108, 118-49
compulsory education, 12-3
elementary education
expenditure

irt cost per pupil, 53-5, 122,
128, 147

irt national income, 56, 144
irt pupil-teacher ratio, 121-2
irt student welfare services, 121
irt teacher’s salaries, 135
irt total expenditure, 54-6, 118,
123-5, 144, 147
grant-in-aid

federal govt., 56-8, 119,
125-45, 147-8
state govt., 56-8, 119-20,
145-6, 148-9

local govt., 58, 119-20, 145
FINANCE Commission, 125-7
FINE arts, 31 *

FIVE Year Plans
elementary education
development programme (1961-
1976), 74, 76-8, 80, 82-3, 85-7,
89, 95, 97-9, 101-2, 104, 108
enrolment, 25-32, 42-3, 76-7,
80, 82-3, 85, 98
finance, 54-7, 78, 98, 101-2, 104,
108, 126-8, 140-1, 143-4, 148-9
school plant, 98, 104
standards, 33, 41-3
student welfare services, 36, 43
99, 101

teacher education, 34, 85, 87
97-8

teacher education in service, 34
teachers, 33, 34, 85-6, 89, 95
wastage and stagnation, 85
middle school education
standards, 31-2, 43
women’s education, 25, 28
FRANCE

elementary education
administration

local govt, (communes),
45,49
finance

school chest, 72
GAIKWAD, Sayajirao
compulsory education, 2
GANDHI, M.K., 16
basic education, 2-3
GOKHALE, G.K.

compulsory education bill, 1-2
GRANT-in-aid, 72-3
centralisation of, 56-8
GUJARAT

compulsory education, 4
elementary education
enrolment, 134-5, 151
finance

irt cost per pupil, 135
irt pupil-teacher ratio, 135
irt teacher education, 136-7,
153

irt teachers

promotion, 90
qualifications, 135
salaries, 135

irt total educational expendi-
ture, 133, 152
irt total state income, 133
literacy figures, 136
middle school education, 152
population

irt children in age-group
6-14, 131, 150
irt rural population, 131

160

INDEX

INDEX

161

irt small habitations, 130*1
irt socially handicapped

scheduled castes, 130
scheduled tribes, 1 30
HARTOG Committee Report, 45
HEALTH services see under
student welfare services
HIGHER education, 24,78, 126
and camping, 41
and crafts, 40

INDIAN Education Commission
(1882), 1, 44, 60
INSERVICE training see teacher
education-in-service
INSPECTION see supervision
and supervisors

INTEGRATION Scheme, 48-9
JAMMU and Kashmir
compulsory education, 4-7, 25
elementary education

enrolment, 7, 12, 134-5, 151
finance
expenditure
irt cost per pupil, 135
irt pupil-teacher ratio, 133
irt teacher education, 136,153
irt teachers

qualifications, 136-7
salaries, 135

irt total educational expendi-
ture, 133, 152

irt total state income, 133
literacy figures, 136-7
middle school education, 152
population

irt children in age-group
6-14, 131, 150
irt rural population, 131
irt small habitations, 131
irt socially handicapped
scheduled castes, 131

JAPAN

elementary education
finance

expenditure, 56, 106
teachers

replacement rate, 93
KARACHI Plan
compulsory education
finance

cost per pupil, 109
KERALA

compulsory education, 4, 7
elementary education
class size, 28, 109
enrolment, 134-5, 151
expenditure, 132*3
irt cost per pupil, 135
irt pupil-teacher ratio, 135
irt teacher education, 136-7
irt teachers

qualifications, 136-7
salaries, 135

irt total educational expendi-
ture, 132-3, 152
irt total state income, 133
literacy figures, 136-7
middle school education, 152
population

irt children in age-group, 6, 14,
131,150

irt density, 130-1

irt rural population, 131

irt small habitations, 130-1

irt socially^handicapped

scheduled castes, 131
scheduled tribes, 131
KHER Committee
compulsory education, 3
LAWS and legislation, 2, 52
compulsory . education

compulsory attendance, 5, 47

LITERACY, 8-9, 27, 47

campaigns, 8-9, 15-7, 19, 47
figures, 136-7

LUNCHES, School, 36, 43, 52,

64, 70, 72

Annandan movement, 70
MADHYA PRADESH
compulsory education, 4-7, 25-6
elementary education
enrolment, 7, 12, 28, 134-5
expenditure

irt cost per pupil, 135, 137
irt pupil-teacher ratio, 135
irt teacher education, 136-7,
153

irt teachers

qualifications, 136
salaries, 135, 137
irt total educational expendi-
ture, 133, 152
irt total state income, 133
literacy figures, 136
middle school education, 152
population

irt children in age-group
6-14, 131,150
irt density, 130-1
irt rural population, 131
irt small habitations, 131
irt socially handicapped
scheduled castes, 131
scheduled tribes, 130-1
MADRAS

compulsory education, 4,7, 26,
28, 63-4

elementary education

enrolment, 28, 134-5, 151

expenditure

irt cost per pupil, 135,

irt pupil-teacher ratio, 1 35

irt teacher education, 136-7

irt teachers

qualifications, 136
salaries, 135

irt total educational expendi-
ture, 133, 152
irt total State income, 133
middle school education, 152
population

irt children in age-group
6-14 , 131, 150
irt density, 131
irt rural population, 131-2
irt small habitations, 130-1
irt socially handicapped
scheduled castes, 131
scheduled tribes, 131
student welfare services
lunches, school, 36, 64, 70
MAHARASHTRA
compulsory education, 4
elementary education
administration
local govt., 146
enrolment, 28, 134-5, 151
expenditure, 132-3
irt cost per pupil, 135
irt pupil-teacher ratio, 135
irt teacher education, 136-7,
153

irt teachers

promotion, 90
qualifications, 136
salaries, 135

irt total educational expendi-
ture, 132-3, 152
irt total state income, 133
literacy figures, 136
middle school education, 152
population

irt children in age-group
6-14 , 131, 150
irt density, 130
irt rural population, 131-2
irt small habitations, 130-1
irt socially handicapped
scheduled castes, 129
scheduled tribes, 129

162

INDEX

INDEX

MANUAL work, 39-40
MARXISM see communism
and education

MIDDLE school education, 4, 29,
31-3, 36, 39, 40-3, 49, 152
crafts, 32, 40-1
enrolment, 32, 36
pupil-teacher ratio, 32
school plant, 32
standards, 31-3

teacher education in service, 32
teachers, 32, 87
wastage and stagnation, 41
MUSIC, 41
MYSORE

compulsory education
elementary education
enrolment, 134-5, 151
expenditure, 132-3
irt cost per pupil, 135
irt pupil-teacher ratio, 135
irt teacher education, 136-7, 153
irt teachers

qualifications, 136
salaries, 135

irt total educational expendi-
ture, 132-3, 152
irt total state income, 133
literacy figures, 136
middle school education, 152
population

irt children in age-group
6-14 , 131-2, 150
irt density, 131
irt rural population, 131
irt small habitations, 130-1
irt socially handicapped
scheduled castes, 131
scheduled tribes, 131
NATIONAL income (India), 144
NATIONAL System of Education,
see Basic education

ORISSA

compulsory education, 4-7, 25-6
elementary education
enrolment, 7, 12, 134-5, 151
expenditure
irt cost per pupil, 135
irt pupil teacher ratio, 135
irt teacher education, 136-7
irt teachers

qualifications, 136-7
salaries, 135

irt total educational expendi-
ture, 132-3, 152
irt total state income, 133
literacy figures, 136
middle school education, 152
population

irt children in age-group
6-14, 131, 150
irt density, 131
irt rural population, 131-2
irt small habitations, 131
irt socially handicapped
scheduled castes, 129
scheduled tribes, 129
PAINTING, 41

PANCHAYATI Raj Institutions,
see under educational adminis-
tration

PANCHAYAT Samitis, see under
educational administration
PARENT-teacher associations, 63
PART-time education, 10-2, 19,
26-7, 43

PART-time schools see part-time
education

PARULEKAR, R.V.
compulsory education, 24
double-shift system, 2-3, 10
part-time education, 10
pupil-teacher ratio, 10-11
PATEL Memorial Lectures, 1 1
PERSPECTIVE Planning in India,
106

PLANNING Commission, Edu-
cational Panel of,
compulsory education, 4
perspective planning in India, 106
PLAYGROUNDS, 47, 52, 64
POST-WAR Educational Deve-
lopment in India, 81
PUNJAB

compulsory education, 4
elementary education
enrolment, 135, 151
expenditure, 132-3
irt cost per pupil, 135, 137
irt pupil- teacher ratio, 135
irt teacher education, 136-7, 153
irt teachers

qualifications, 136-7
salaries, 135

irt total educational expendi-
ture, 132-3, 152
irt total state income, 133
literacy figures, 136
middle school education, 152
population

irt children in age-group
6-14, 131-2, 150
irt density, 131
irt rural population, 131
irt small habitations, 131
irt socially handicapped

scheduled castes, 130-1
scheduled tribes, 130-1
PUPIL teacher ratio, 10-1, 19, 23,
28, 53-4, 109-13, 121-2
middle school education, 32
RAJASTHAN

compulsory education, 4-7, 25,64,
elementary education
enrolment, 134-5, 151
finance

irt cost per pupil, 135
irt pupil-teacher ratio, 135
irt teachers

qualifications, 136-7
salaries, 135

163

irt total educational expendi-
ture, 133, 152

irt total state income, 133
literacy figures, 136
middle school education, 152
population

irt children in age-group
6-14, 131,150
irt density, 130-1
irt rural population, 131
irt small habitations, 130
irt socially handicapped
scheduled castes, 131
scheduled tribes, 130-1
RAMCHANDRAN, G.
basic education, 38
orientation programme, 31, 39
SARGENT, John, 3
SARGENT Plan
basic education
self-sufficiency, 3
compulsory education, 3, 5, 78, 81
elementary education, 56
standards, 24-5

middle school education, 31-2
SCHOOL chest, 72
SCHOOL and community, 47, 59
SCHOOL farms, 47, 52, 72
SCHOOL gardens, 47, 64, 72
SCHOOL plant, 24, 32, 47, 52,
54, 64, 67, 98, 104
elementary education
buildings, 24, 47, 52, 54, 64, 67
development programme, 98-9
equipment, 24, 47, 52, 54, 64-7
middle school education, 32
SECONDARY education, 24, 26,
41, 48-9
administration
local govt., 49
crafts, 41
finance, 26

integration scheme, 48-9
wastage and stagnation, 41
SECULARISM, 15

164

INDEX

SELF-government, 45
SELF-sufficiency
basic education, 3, 38
SOCIETY for the Prevention of
Cruelty to Teachers (SPCT), 48
SPINNING and Weaving, 39
STAGNATION, see wastage and
stagnation

STANDARDS, 22-4, 30-43, 59-60
and human factors, 59-60
parents’ role, 59-60
students’ role, 59-60
supervisors’ role, 59-60
teachers’ role, 59-60
improvement measures, 22-4
STATE government see under
educational administration
STATE Institutes of Education, 34
STUDENT welfare services, 23-4,
35-6, 43, 47, 52, 54, 57, 64, 67, 69,
72, 99, 101, 121

development programme (1961-
1976), 99

health services, 35-6, 52, 54
lunches, school, 35-6, 43, 52, 64,
70, 72

and standards, 35-6
textbooks provision, 35-6, 52,
54, 69

uniforms, school, 35-6
writing materials provision, 23,
35-6, 52, 69

STUDY Group on the Training of
Elementary Teachers in India
elementary education

teacher education, 87-9, 97
SUPERVISION and supervisors
elementary education, 46-52, 58
development programme (1961-
1976), 99-100

TEACHER education, 33-5, 47-8,
52, 58,85, 87-8, 97-8,121, 136-7,
153

TEACHER education in service, 32,
34, 52, 87, 121
elementary education, 34, 52, 87
middle school education, 32
TEACHERS, 23, 32-6, 47-9, 52-4,
57-60, 85-6, 89, 95, 126, 137
elementary education
administration
local govt., 47-8
development programme (1961.

76), 85-7, 89-90, 93-6
old age provision, 33
qualifications, 33-5, 126
salaries, 23-4, 35, 49, 52-4, 57-8
service conditions, 33-4, 52
social security benefits, 33
and standards, 33-5, 59-60
middle school education
qualifications, 32, 34
TECHNICAL education, 78
TEXTBOOKS

free distribution of, 35-6, 43, 52,
54, J59
tolerance, 1 5

UNIFORMS, school, 35-6
UNION OF SOVIET SOCIALIST
REPUBLICS (USSR)
elementary education
expenditure, 56
UNITED KINGDOM, 31
elementary education
administration
local govt., 45
expenditure, 54-6
UNITED STATES
elementary education
finance

expenditure, 54, 56
UTTAR PRADESH
compulsory education, 4-7, 25-6
elementary education

enrolment, 7, 12, 28, 134-5, 151
expenditure, 132-3

INDEX

165

irt cost per pupil, 135-7
irt pupil-teacher ratio, 135
irt teacher education, 136-7
irt teachers

qualifications, 136-7
salaries, 1 35

irt total educational expendi-
ture, 132, 152
irt total state income, 1 33
literacy figures, 136
middle school education, 152
population

irt children in age- group
6-14, 131, 150
irt density, 131
irt rural population, 131
irt small habitations, 130-1
irt socially handicapped

scheduled castes, 130-1
VILLAGE panchayats, see under
educational administration
WASTAGE and stagnation, 8,
10-1, 30-2, 43, 85 *

elementary education, 30-1, 43
middle school education, 32
WEAVING, 39
WEST BENGAL
compulsory education, 4

elementary education
enrolment, 134-5, 151
finance

irt cost per pupil, 135
irt pupil-teacher ratio, 135
irt teacher education, 136-7
irt teachers

qualifications, 136
salaries, 135

irt total educational expendi-
ture, 133, 152

irt total state income, 133
literacy figures, 136
middle school education, 152
population

irt children in age-group 6-14,
131, 150

irt density, 130-1

irt rural population, 131-2

irt socially handicapped

scheduled castes, 130-1
scheduled tribes, 131
WOMEN’S education, 25, 29,

79, 86

WORLD WAR II, 3
ZAKIR HUSAIN
basic education, 37
compulsory education, 11